If Death Is the Alternative
by Kireteiru
Summary: UNDERGOING REWRITE! That day on the plain, Ryoushi could have saved Teresa from Priscilla. So what would have happened if he had? Alternate timeline for "Stranger Things Have Happened." ClarexRaki, OCxOC. Rated M because it's Claymore
1. Prologue

A/N: Because I let one of my Claymore-liking friends read _STHH_, and she demanded, "But Ryoushi was _right there!_ Why didn't he stop Priscilla from killing Teresa?"

And then my brain went BOOM with ideas.

I really, really hate you, Lauren. Seriously.

* * *

Ryoushi was not conscious of the fact that he had moved; all he was aware of was that one second he was in town, "watching" Teresa's fight with Priscilla, and then he was there, catching the youngest Claymore's sword and tearing it out of her hands as it sang its terrible way toward his student. He had simply reacted and exposed himself, not even bothering to put on a cloak to hide his appearance, and he stared at the blade in his hands as if it was going to come to life and bite him.

He now recognized the instinct that had made him rush to Teresa's side, though; somehow, sometime during their little training soiree, his inner beast had sulkily categorized her as a "youngling," effectively as his little sister, and it was this powerful :defense-of-kin: instinct that drove him to protect her when she could not protect herself.

"What the-"

"Ryoushi, move!"

His student's cry brought him back to himself, and again, his body moved without his conscious command, dodging Priscilla's final strike before she Awakened completely, her incredibly powerful aura shattering the earth both around and beneath her. The other Awakened One shifted his grip to the handle of the blade and assumed a fighting position, Teresa doing the same; Priscilla was vulnerable and would only remain so for a few precious moments before her guard came back up, so it was absolutely critical that they struck at the same time.

Their eyes met for just the briefest of instants before they lunged, each moving independently of and yet never interfering with the other; Ryoushi took one of her arms, and Teresa cut her in half at the waist, but it wasn't enough. She was still in the process of Awakening, her youki surging wildly, and it healed her almost immediately. Priscilla seemed to not have noticed Ryoushi at all; instead, she only struck back at Teresa with one arm, only to have it shatter before it reached the hanyoma.

"What's this?" she asked, her Awakening settling as it finished, her arm already regenerating at an incredibly high speed.

Both Teresa and Ryoushi looked away from the monster for just an instant, just long enough to meet Irene's eyes. Her message was clear; 'We're not done with you, but for the moment, _she_ is the bigger threat.' The former Number One nodded, accepting their help against Priscilla-bakemono, and turned back to face the Awakened Number Two. For a long moment, Irene and Ryoushi eyed one another; so far as she could feel, he had no youki, was just an ordinary human, but the fact that he had moved so fast and was carrying Priscilla's claymore like it was a feather betrayed him. He had come to Teresa's aid, but was he truly a threat?

'Questions for another time,' she thought, tensing her body in preparation for the Quicksword, Noel and Sophia preparing for battle behind her.

"Ryoushi," Teresa said quietly, "get Clare out of here." He looked at her. "Get her someplace safe so we can fight without Priscilla trying to kill her." The Awakened One hesitated for just a moment, then nodded and vanished, reappearing next to Clare and picking her up before disappearing again. He blurred silently over the rooftops, the girl under his arm, and tried so hard not to think about how appetizing her scent made her; he dropped down in front of his home and burst through the door, making for the storage closet that he used for human food. The claymore-turned-yoma unceremoniously dumped her on the floor, told her to stay there and that Teresa would come for her when the fight was over, and sealed her inside, barricading the door with a heavy metal gate that he was in the midst of forging.

He reappeared on the battle field just in time to see Sophia collapse; she wasn't dead, but she was seriously injured, and he moved her to a safe distance before leaping into the fight. He ducked a slash from the other Awakened One that would have opened his body from shoulder to hip and chopped off the arm as it passed, dodging out of the way when she regenerated, her arm unraveling into tear him in two.

Teresa, Irene, and Noel were clearly struggling against the Awakened Priscilla, the former because there was too much youki for her to read the flow and the latter two because they were so out of their league. Though the former Number One was much better off than the latter two because of her monstrous strength, she was still having trouble, only just dodging strikes and retaliating when she could. Irene was exhausting her Quicksword, the muscles beginning to tear with all the strain she was putting on them, and Noel was using her incredible agility to its fullest, twisting and jumping and flipping out of the way of Priscilla's attacks.

They weren't going to be enough, Ryoushi realized; they might eventually need to cut their losses and escape. He kicked the Awakened One full on in the chest, splintering her ribs and rupturing her lungs, and immediately Priscilla began gasping for breath, her body already healing, but it was much harder to heal a crushed area than it was to reattach a lost limb. He dodged out of the way as she unraveled her wings and tried to shred him to bits, only to have Noel get caught in the attack.

"Teresa! We need to cut our losses and get out of here, or kill her _now_!"

"I know that!" the hanyoma shouted back at him, and their eyes met again before they both ducked another strike from Priscilla, spun as one, and pumped all of the youki they could into one of their legs before kicking the Awakened One solidly in the chest a second time, sending her flying back and slamming heavily into a rock formation. Her ribcage collapsed completely this time, perforating her lungs and liquefying many of her internal organs, including her stomach, letting the hydrochloric acid free into her chest cavity. The force of their kick also fractured her spinal cord and knocked her out, much to the relief of the three still fit for battle.

"We need to get out of here," Teresa said firmly, "We're giving her all we've got, and it isn't enough."

"But we could kill her now!" Irene shouted, holding her severed left arm with her right as she began to reattach it.

"She's regaining consciousness; I say we get the hell out of here before we all lose our lives," Ryoushi growled, eyes on the other Awakened One.

"And I'm inclined to agree." Teresa nodded slightly. "We'll help you get Noel and Sophia away, but if you choose to come after us again immediately after, you have to give us a two-day head start."

"What's this 'we,' kemosabe?"

"You exposed yourself, Ryoushi; you aren't safe here anymore." Teresa snatched up Noel as she ran past, the Awakened One obliging her and picking up Sophia but struggling to maneuver the dead weight into a position that made her easier to carry, Irene running along behind them as they made their way up into the mountains to hide the injured hanyoma while they recovered. The moment everyone was settled in, the hanyoma and her Awakened-sensei immediately returned to Intore to retrieve Clare, but along the way...

"She'll slow us down, you know."

Teresa paused for just the briefest of instants before continuing, unnoticeable to normal humans, but Ryoushi picked up on it with ease. "I know, but I can protect her."

"I know that, but even if we carry her, it's more of a burden on the both of us."

"And what are you suggesting? That I let you eat her or something?" Even though she was forcibly controlling her emotions, her voice went taut with rage at the simple suggestion of such a thing.

"I was thinking more along the lines of catching the yoma in the next town and..."

"I don't want that kind of life for her," the hanyoma said as they reached the city and began leaping along atop the roofs, heading for Ryoushi's home.

"Short of leaving her somewhere, I don't see much of a choice." The Awakened One was not bothering to beat around the bush; both of them hated it when people did that. "If you want to escape the organization, you have to be light on your feet."

"But you were never caught."

"That's because I was the best sensor of my generation; no one else could catch me if I could sense their approach. In addition to that, I kept my youki suppressed long enough to where virtually no one noticed me until you came along." He left the 'And I didn't have a human child tailing me around' remain unspoken as they entered the house, and Ryoushi pointed Teresa in the direction of the closet where he'd stuffed Clare, gathering up all of the essentials for living on the run, namely water, clothes, and weapons with which to hunt. A lot of the food in his house was perishable, forcing him to abandon it, and he blurred around the kitchen, snatching up spices and salt and herbs and other forms of flavoring to bundle up and put in his pack, heaving it up onto his shoulder and heading for his bedroom.

There, on the wall over his bed, was his original claymore sword, the one that he'd traveled all the way to the far north to retrieve two years after his Awakening; he grasped the handle and lifted it off of the brackets holding it up, the blade as light as it ever felt in his hand. He silently laid it out on the bed with his pack and moved to the closet, quickly changing into a set of armor similar to the one he had worn as a claymore; the only difference was that it was much looser and colored jet black. He tightened all of the necessary straps and picked up his travelling cloak, tugging it on over top of his armor and pack.

He emerged from his room to find Clare munching on some bread and butter, Teresa looking over his weapons, now wearing a cloak to conceal her rather distinctive armor. "Impressive work," the hanyoma said, testing the balance of one of the blades; it was perfect, and there were no impurities in the metal.

"Take it, if you want. I can't take it with me." Ryoushi was already moving everything valuable away from the windows, boarding them up, and dousing his forge. The Awakened One tossed all of the food they couldn't eat away where the poor kids of the town would find it and sealed up his home before they departed, heading for the town across the river. He physically body-slammed the yoma in the other town and hauled it away, snapping its neck and dropping it at Teresa's feet.

Clare drew back slightly in fear, but Teresa sighed and put a steadying hand on the girl's shoulder. "Clare." She looked up at Teresa in askance. "If... if we're going to keep surviving, you have to become a hanyoma like me. It'll enable us to travel faster and longer and with less food than normal."

The human's eyes widened slightly in understanding. "How?"

"You have to eat the yoma flesh. That's the only safe way we have of doing it right now." Teresa looked up at Ryoushi. "Let's get away from this town."

The Awakened One nodded and picked up the yoma's corpse, turning and tearing off towards the west, much to Teresa's surprise. She gave Clare a piggy-back ride and sprinted to catch up with Ryoushi, asking, "Why head west?"

"Did you never sense the transformation taking place? For a period of about three days, Clare will have youki but can't control it; it's best if we're somewhere that isn't heavily populated by yoma and hanyoma: the west, furthest away from the place where hanyoma are made. So long as we avoid Riful of the West, we'll be fine."

"Riful of the West?" Clare asked from where she was peering over Teresa's shoulder, watching their surroundings flash by at an incredible pace.

"She... was a half-yoma warrior like Teresa, but then she became a yoma like me." Ryoushi heard Clare's quiet gasp of fear, and left Teresa to explain about Awakened Ones, leaping along ahead to scout out the territory and search for a suitable temporary home for them while Clare was turned into a hanyoma. The mountain range they were entering was the one opposite the plain that Irene, Noel, and Sophia had been left in, making it suitably far away for their purposes, and He eventually found an ancient cave in the mountainside and began clearing out all of the dead leaves and plants; Teresa and Clare caught up with him as he was cutting reeds for the padding over the floor. If they left it the way it was, Clare would freeze before she made the transformation.

The hanyoma helped him carry a substantial amount of the bedding back to the cave and spread it around, while the young human picked up sticks and broken logs for the fire pit in the center. "You're certainly keeping busy," Teresa noted when he successfully pinned a simply _enormous_ rat to the ground with one of his daggers, having been watching it move about for the better part of ten minutes.

"It keeps my mind off of..."

"Ah." Teresa glanced at Clare as she brought more firewood into the cave, and the Awakened One moved to start the fire, carefully laying a circle of stones around it to keep anything from rolling in on accident. While the fire was getting up to temperature, he hauled the yoma corpse outside and began butchering it in the snow that was beginning to fall from the dark clouds overhead. The stench of the yoma corpse made everyone curl their noses, but it was necessary for their survival.

Ryoushi skillfully stripped the majority of the meat from the bones, collected the bloody snow, and began digging a hole in the ground, lining it with the yoma's stomach after he wiped it clear of the acid with some snow. Both Teresa and Clare watched with curious eyes as he heated some stones in the fire and packed the stomach with the bloody snow, then used the stones to melt the snow and heat the water, adding a few herbs and spices to the brew before he cut the yoma meat down to bite-size chunks and tossed it in. After a few minutes, the aroma of the stew permeated the air, Ryoushi digging in his pack and pulling out a carrot, a potato, and a knife, and he used the latter to cut up the former two and add them to the stew.

"I didn't know you could cook," Teresa said quietly.

"It helps to know how to cook when you're on your own, and when you have guests over and don't want them to know what you're eating." He checked the stew occasionally before ladling out a bowl for Clare. The young girl visibly scrunched up her nose but took it from the Awakened One anyway; now that it was right under her nose, she could smell the yoma flesh. The young human ate it just the same and forced down the entire stew before she lost consciousness, the transformation beginning.

Both hanyoma and Awakened One stood guard that night, watching the snow fall outside their brightly lit cave. Winter would soon be upon the land, making it even more necessary that Clare complete the transformation; she would not survive the intense cold without the ability to regulate her body temperature. As it was, both of the yoma-like entities had wrapped her up in their cloaks close enough to the fire to where she could remain warm but not so much that she'd set herself on fire.

About nine that night, Ryoushi perked up and turned his head towards the valley below. Priscilla was finally fully healed and on the move. He had already begun suppressing his youki the moment the fight was over, and now he gestured for Teresa to do the same so the other Awakened One wouldn't notice them. Ryoushi "watched" the distant source of incredible power as she slaughtered an entire village to slake her hunger before heading north, towards Isley's territory.

Clare's scent began to change that night, though she did not yet have a youki signature, and Teresa carried her when they went further west the next day, sprinting through the mountain range and down to the plain on the other side. The transforming human lay limp against Teresa's back as she and her Awakened teacher padded silently through the great forest on the plain, the trees too big and too close together for them to safely run though it at top speed, and occasionally the hanyoma would look back at the human, watching her progress.

"We'll need to get both of you new gear."

Silver eyes locked on Ryoushi's back, and not for the first time, Teresa was reminded of the incredible trust this Awakened One placed in her. She had decided long ago that if Ryoushi could train her, despite the fact that she was his mortal enemy, then she could ignore his food source in favor of their sorta-kinda friendship. "Where?" she asked.

"There's a town at a crossroads beyond this forest. I have some money. If you give me your measurements, I'll go in and get something for you and something basic for Clare until she stops growing." Both of them looked at the human. She had already grown at least an inch and had lost a lot of her baby fat, her hair lengthening slightly.

The Awakened One headed into town in the afternoon and was looking through one of the more popular clothing shops when he sensed an incredible Awakened aura appear at the edge of the city. Immediately, he clamped down on any and all youki escaping from him and tried to act normal, thinking, 'Damn. Of all the times to run into Riful of the West.'

He was able to ascertain after a few seconds that she was headed in his direction, and there was no way in hell he would be able to escape the Mistress of Blades without leveling the city, and Teresa would kill him for that. The one time that he had met her while she was still a hanyoma, he had felt the sheer _power_ that she radiated, and while no where near Priscilla's level, she still was incredibly strong in her own right.

"Hi!"

Ryoushi blinked down at the Awakened One, who was barely half his height. "Um, hello, Riful of the West."

It is her turn to blink. "Who are you?" she asked, lowering her voice so that only her could hear her.

"Ryoushi, 45th male generation, warrior 133." He knew that the longer he kept her distracted, the longer the townspeople might get to live.

Her eyes lit with recognition. "The First Escapee. What brings you to my neck of the woods?"

"What else but the organization?" He shook his head. "I had been living in the town of Intore, in Tolouse, when one of the organzation's warriors - the Number One, Teresa of the Faint Smile - came into town. I didn't want to get killed, so I moved to a safe distance. She was being chased by other warriors, a death squad sent to kill her, and on the outskirts of town, the Number Two Awakened."

Riful cocked her head, clearly interested.

"This Number Two - she was new, just barely certified, and she hadn't yet discovered her limits before she went over them. I high-tailed it out of there as soon as possible after that."

"Which way did she go?"

"North, toward Isley. I was tempted to go to watch the fight, but thought better of it."

"Hmm," Riful said, "Well, in any case, you are welcome in my lands for as long as you care to stay."

"Thank you," he said, bowing at the waist, "You are very kind."

She beamed at him and bounded out of the store, clearly contemplating the news that he had brought her, and he waited until she was out of his sensing range before letting out an exhaustive sigh of relief. Thankfully, her mate, Dauf, was nowhere within range, either, so he continued his perusal of the shops in the town, stocking up as much as he dared before returning to Teresa.

He had gotten her an outfit similar to her uniform, a two-piece full-body suit, leather boots, armguards, and shoulder guards, but instead of a waist/thigh guard, he got her a belt with pouches on it so she could carry small- to medium-sized objects without tying up her hands. Clare had received a similar outfit, about the same size, but there were buckles all along it so that its size could be changed as she grew.

"I sensed Riful," Teresa said without preamble as she changed, "What happened?"

"Nothing. She was just curious. I told her about Priscilla so that she'd be ready if she ever came this way."

"Was that wise?"

"It got her to leave and gave me a reason for being here." Ryoushi sat back against a tree, crossing his arms and closing his eyes. "All the same, we should stay out of cities as long as possible."

"Agreed. Clare and I would be able to pass as human, but only as long as no one saw our eyes." She stepped out from behind the tree and struck a sarcastic pose, modeling her outfit for the Awakened One. He quirked an eyebrow at her, but she could see a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips. She flopped down next to him and assumed a similar position, watching Clare sleep. "How long will it take?"

"At the rate she's progressing, a week, maybe a little more. After that, two, three, maybe even four weeks to get her acclimated and train her in whatever skill she's got."

Night began to fall, and Ryoushi moved to build a fire, more for Clare's sake than their own.

* * *

"C'mon, Clare, put a little power behind it!" Teresa commanded, dodging the young claymore's strike and returning with one of her own, which was blocked but with less force than necessary to prevent her from skidding backwards. Clare managed to find traction on the wet sand and leapt again, bringing Ryoushi's blade up for another attack.

The Awakened One watched the sparring with impassive eyes, sensing the flow of youki through Clare's body. It had become immediately apparent upon the completion of the transformation that she was neither as sensitive nor as strong as Teresa or Ryoushi, but untrained as she was, she could rival them in speed. Teresa was working with her to build up her endurance in hopes that Irene was still alive and hiding somewhere so that she could train Clare; they knew she wasn't with the organization anymore because Ryoushi had "conveniently" overhead a conversation between a small group of hanyoma about the defection of the Number Two and that Numbers Three and Four had been killed on a mission (translation: Noel and Sophia were out and about, looking for Irene).

Unfortunately, now it was a matter of getting Clare up to snuff - that is, capable of defending herself against older, stronger hanyoma - before they began searching for Irene. The Awakened One sighed heavily. They had been living at an old cabin that he had built in in a forest by the sea for about three months now, and at the rate Clare was progressing, they would be ready to go within a few weeks. He turned his head to look out over the ocean, watching the waves roll into the shore. The soothing sound of the water drumming against the shore kept his inner beast quiet, which is why he preferred living by water whenever possible, be it the ocean, a river, a waterfall, even a tiny stream.

He turned his gaze back to the sparring hanyoma. 'Three, two, one...'

Clare's legs gave out from under her, and she collapsed to the sand, panting; Teresa said, "Let's take a break."

"I'm all right, I can-" Clare winced when her legs refused to hold her up again, sending her sprawling back onto the sand.

Teresa sighed in exasperation. "Clare, if you don't rest, your body won't get stronger because you'll be dead from exhaustion. It was the same for me under Ryoushi's training." She gestured to the Awakened One, who nodded to Clare when he sensed her gaze on him.

"I just... I feel like I'm disappointing you by not being a sensor-class hanyoma." Clare dropped her silver gaze.

Teresa was about to say something, but Ryoushi beat her to it. "Don't be," he grunted, "because sensor-class hanyoma are... not exactly rare, but they aren't common, either. All hanyoma are fast, but the 'acceleration-class' hanyoma are one of the rarest of the bunch." He looked her over, and Clare instinctively knew that he was not just looking at her physically, but he was also examining her youki. "I'd say that you might be able to use both Irene's Quicksword and a technique that I picked up from an old comrade of mine called 'Instantaneous Acceleration.'" He closed his eyes and remembered...

_...That was what Number Four Vladimir was the best at: speed. He could outrun any and all of the warriors and trainees, covering long distances in fractions of the usual time. There was one time that Ryoushi saw him go full-tilt across a two-mile plain and cross it in under a minute, he was so fast. The best part was with Ryoushi's help - even when the sensor had still been a trainee - Vladimir was able to eliminate wasted movements and energy, so his speed and stride were as effortless and efficient as they could possibly be..._

The Awakened One opened his eyes and threw off the weight of memory, sensing Clare's confusion.

"'Instantaneous Acceleration?'" she asked, accepting the water bottle that Teresa passed to her.

"Instantaneous, meaning like that." He snapped his fingers to show a very short amount of time. "Acceleration, meaning an increase in speed, regardless of what direction. It's like... if you were walking down this beach, and then you began to jog, then run, then flat-out sprint. That change in speed from walking to sprinting is called acceleration."

"Cool. When will I be learning this?"

"After Irene's training. It helps to know the basic principles of what you're doing before you actually do it."

"Darn."

* * *

"Irene-san~!"

"Teresa? What are you doing here?"

"Well, you see, Clare here..."

"You made her a hanyoma."

"We didn't exactly have a choice," Teresa interjected before the Quicksword user could argue, "It wasn't safe for any of us - especially her - if she remained human." She hesitated for just a second, then said, "I also have someone that I'd like to formally introduce to you."

"Oh?"

"Yes. This," she said, gesturing to the dark-haired Awakened One hanging back a far distance, "is the former Number Two, Ryoushi. He's the one who taught me how to use my sensing ability effectively."

After an almost full-hour of explanations, questions, and answers, the former Number Two sighed and relented against Clare and Teresa's stance that he wasn't harmless but never ate the innocent. Ryoushi snorted at that. "I prefer to think of myself as some kind of subtle police force. You don't disobey the law, and I won't hunt you. Do, and I'll make your life a living hell." However, the Awakened One did accede to one of Irene's demands and agreed to stop hunting humans so long as he stayed with the hanyoma, instead moving to hunting the animals that lived in and around the valley where they hid from the organization.

Clare worked almost constantly on mastering the Quicksword and was practicing with Teresa when noel and Sophia finally made it. They came into the valley that same way that the trio had, through a system of caverns in the mountains, their youki suppressed down as far as it could go. and Ryoushi sensed them as soon ass they set foot into the mountains, the caves and tunnels acting as natural amplifiers for their youki.

He turned his head away from the sparring hanyoma to follow their progress, Irene watching him carefully once she noticed the change. Teresa paused when she became able to sense the approaching warriors, but then she continued on like it was nothing, blocking Clare's every strike until the newcomers arrive. It was then that Ryoushi decided to make himself scarce until everything was explained to the former Numbers Three and Four, heading to the river to bathe.

The yoma settled into the icy water with ease, eyes just above the surface and bubbles popping at the surface as he exhaled through his nose. It was nice to just get away every now and then, to leave everyone behind and just disappear into nature, to relish the relative silence. He sat in the cold, cold tributary for almost an hour before he rubbed himself down with a rag and got out, drying himself of with his cloak and putting his clothes back on. He caught a deer on the way back to the cabin and carefully ate its internal organs before carrying the meat back to the claymores; he knew they were running low.

Noel and Sophia made no secret of their distrust as they eyes him up and down, but he ignored them, instead calling Clare over to give her some practice at controlling the Quicksword. He used a dagger to draw the cuts he wanted her to make, and she unleashed her high-speed attack, making perfectly smooth slices through the meat before helping him heave it over to their smoker, where it was cooked and dried.

In the meantime, Ryoushi joined the hanyoma in a circle around the fire that had been lit outside and stared around at all of them before voicing the question that was on everyone's minds: "So what now?"

They all looked at him like he'd grown a second head.

"Well, we can't all stay here forever. Even at the rate we go through food as compared to ordinary humans, we would still deplete the food supply around here pretty fast. Not to mention, a group of yoma energy sources is a lot easier to detect that just one. Even though Clare is working on learning the Quicksword and Instantaneous Acceleration without youki, there's bound to be a few slips simply because she's new at this."

"True," Teresa murmured, "and it goes against the grain to just stay here and let people die because of yoma."

There were quiet murmurs of assent amongst the others.

"Clare and Irene will need to stay here so that she can learn the Quicksword. Noel and Sophia, you two need some more time to get your youki suppressed completely."

"And that leaves only you and I, right, Teresa?" A slightly bitter smile twitched the Awakened One's lips.

"I will go."

"What?"

"Eventually, you will be teaching Clare Instantaneous Acceleration, and we run too much of a risk of exposing ourselves if we send a messenger to retrieve you when the time is right, and too much time would be wasted if we simply waited for you too come back."

"But-"

"You're a better sensor than I could ever hope to be, Ryoushi, even if I Awakened. You'll be able to keep everyone safe."

The Awakened One sat back on his log and sighed heavily but did not protest.

"If you're sure, Teresa," Sophia said, placing a hand on Noel's arm to prevent her from protesting.

"I am. I'll be alright."

Ryoushi watched her for several long moments before saying, "You be careful, you hear? If word reaches my rather sensitive ears that you've been taking unnecessary risks, I will hunt you down, chop off your arms, and beat you with them." All of it was said in an utterly deadpan tone, indicating that he was very serious.

Teresa just laughed and explained to the others, "That's his way of showing concern for people," bringing a few quiet chuckles from the group.

The former Number One left the very next day, agreeing that she would return in six months to check up on everyone, leaving Ryoushi alone with three sort-off hostile hanyoma and one ambivalent one. They came to a sort-of agreement that they would leave him alone if he left them alone, and their community settled into a kind of peace while Teresa was away.

When Irene finally declared that Clare had mastered the Quicksword, Ryoushi had her start on Instantaneous Acceleration by running around in the stream that flowed by the cabin to build up the strength in her legs, steadily moving into deeper water as time passed. Teresa returned with supplies and other assorted articles for them, including different clothes for Noel and Sophia, and this time, both she and Irene headed out to hunt yoma, the former Numbers Three and Four actually learning how to fight without youki from Ryoushi. The Awakened One was quite willing to teach them and Clare at the same time, and after another year and a half of training, the youngest hanyoma was fast enough to do Instantaneous Acceleration without youki, a level that he had been at for almost twenty years.

Clare went off on her own the next go around and arrived at a fateful town...

* * *

"This is the sixth one."

Clare, hooded and cloaked, stood silently in the crowd around the body, gazing at it. She already knew who the yoma was; that was why she'd come here. She waited until the others moved away before she left, too, sliding up next to the building where the yoma was.

A human boy was already there, and though he carried the scent of the yoma, he was just an ordinary person. However, as he looked up at her, he clearly saw her silver eyes, and she lifted a finger to her lips before turning to listen to the talk of the elders.

"...round up suspicious-looking characters?"

"Calm down, Zaki. At this point in time, we can't afford a claymore, but in another few days..."

The yoma called Zaki sighed. "You're right, chief. That's why you're our leader."

Clare vanished in what appeared to be a blur of motion to the human next to her and reappeared on top of a building a block away, thinking, 'I can take it out; it's not that strong of a yoma, and I don't have to reveal myself any more than I already have.'

The yoma was talking to the boy who must have been his brother, and she followed silently from a distance, dropping back down to street level. After a moment, the beast left the boy, who turned the corner and found her. He appeared to be surprised to see her standing there, having not been able to sense her presence, but then he smiled at her and said, "Hi!"

"Hello," she replied calmly.

"You're... you're a claymore, aren't you? I thought the village didn't send out a request."

"They didn't, and I'm not. The organization has no name, neither am I a part of it."

The boy chuckled slightly. "Still, I can't believe it. You look like an ordinary girl. I guess I thought that you'd be big and scary."

Clare raised an eyebrow. "You're not scared of me?"

"No, not at all. You're just like an ordinary girl. Actually," he said, blushing slightly, "not so ordinary. You're a lot prettier than the girls around here. Um.." He looked up at her, appearing to remember something. "If you don't mind me asking... why are you here?"

"I was passing through the area when I sensed a yoma in this village. This place wasn't too far out of my way, so I decided to stop and help."

"So you came here to kill the yoma? That means you'll grant my wish. The first people to be killed by the monsters in the village were my parents. I was there, but I couldn't do anything. Before I knew it, only my brother and I were left alive. We were covered in blood. If I was strong enough, I could avenge my parents. Now you're the one who's going to kill it for me."

Just then, a bell sounded in one of the towers, making the boy panic. "Oh, no! Sorry, I've got to go. I have to fix dinner for everyone. We're staying at my uncle's house now, so we have to help out." Just before he turned to go, he said, "Oh, my name's Raki! What's yours?"

"You don't need to know my name," Clare said quietly, "You'll forget it soon enough."

Raki furrowed his brows in confusion but had no time to continue to question her, instead racing away to his uncle's home. "Sorry I'm late, uncle! I'll start making dinner right away! I'll be done in just a - huh?" His uncle was lying on the ground in a pool of his own blood, unmoving and clearly dead."U-uncle?"

"You're back..."

"Zaki! It's Uncle! He's-"

"Yes," his brother - no, not his brother, the _yoma_ hissed, "He's delicious! His guts were superb!" Raki took a step back as the boy who had once been his brother began to transform. "It was tough, pretending to be human, with you around looking so tasty, but you never noticed, did you? Your own brother... when I ate your parents, I also took over your brother's body and mind. Because of that, I was able to use his memories and behavior patterns; that's why you stupid humans couldn't find me. I was planning to stay in this village a little longer, but seeing as how you're planning on summoning one of those witches... I guess I'll just devour you before you move on. Huh?" The yoma abruptly took notice of the water falling from his eyes. "Tears... It seems what is left of your brother is shedding tears. Heh, sweet, isn't it?"

The human gritted his teeth in fury and snapped his fist forward to punch the yoma, but with a single swipe, he was batted away with ease. "Fool!" the predator shouted, "Did you think a mere human could stand against a yoma? We have lived among you since ancient times! You exist only as our food." The yoma advanced on him. "We're the foremost predators alive, and you are our prey. Prey is in no position to fight back against predator."

Just then, Clare dropped through the wooden ceiling, hand moving invisibly up to the handle of the claymore over her back and using the null-youki Quicksword to shatter one of the yoma's arms as it lunged back away from her.

"What? A witch?" The yoma looked shocked for a moment before snarling and lunging forward bringing its other arm up to attack, but Clare cut up that one, too, and slipped around behind it at a speed that could not be tracked, cutting off its head in a single slice.

Raki had pressed himself against the wall on the opposite side of the room and was shaking in fear at the inhuman skills of the hanyoma, and she glanced at him as she cleaned off Ryoushi's black-handled claymore before she left just as silently as she'd come.

* * *

"Hey, did you here?"

"Yeah, I did. Zaki was the yoma."

"They say he was already one when his parents died."

"That silver-eyed witch - she appeared out of nowhere and disappeared just as fast."

"She was staying at Galvin's inn."

"No way!"

"Yeah. Anyone heard about Raki?"

"He's with the village chief. I heard he can't speak from the shock."

The young teen was indeed curled up on a bench in one corner of the room, legs clasped to his chest, shivering; the fear he felt that night refused to leave his body. It wasn't until the chief laid a hand on his shoulder and told him to forget what happened that night that he remembered... _"You don't need to know my name. You'll forget it soon enough."_

"What happened to the girl?"

"She left this morning but paid in full for her room and the damage to Raki's uncle's house. Actually, I'm kind of glad she's gone. Those half-yoma are to similar to the monsters themselves."

Raki didn't even have to think about it; he was up and out of the chief's house before he even realized that he had moved, running for the edge of town and ignoring the cries of his name.

_"You're not afraid of me?"_

_"You don't need to know my name. You'll forget it soon enough."_

"HEY! WAIT!"

Clare stopped and looked back at the boy now standing at the edge of the village. Her silence was response enough for him.

"I'm sorry! You were right; I was afraid. Just like when my parents were killed. I've been afraid for so long, but I pretend I'm not. And I've beenashamed for so long, but I pretend I'm not. So that's why I'll never forget. You killed the monster that killed my family. I'll never ever forget you. Thank you! I'm truly grateful. I mean it. Really!" For the briefest instant, he could have sworn that he saw a slight smile appear on her face before she turned back and continued walking away from the village. "My name's Raki. Please, tell me your name!"

There was a beat of silence. Then,

"My name's Clare."


	2. One: Memory of a Witch

One: Memory of a Witch

The yoma was clearly making an attempt to hide itself as she entered the town; it couldn't sense her presence, but its instincts were far more powerful than those of an ordinary human. It could feel its demise coming as it walked the streets of the town in which it lived, and Clare would be the one to deliver it, heading straight for the man who was emanating the youki and tugging Ryoushi's claymore from the holster over her back.

People saw and cried out in fear, lunging away and shouting, "A claymore! A silver-eyed witch!" The yoma turned as she lashed out, and dodged just in time, yoma energy surging through his body.

"No way!"

"The chief! He's a yoma!"

Clare ducked his swipe and made a single slash of her own, chopping his head in half and sending him crumpling to the ground, dead. She expected people to ask her to leave the village after that, but the humans surprised her the way they had surprised Teresa in that town where the slayers came: they started cheering and coming up to thank her profusely. They offered her untold things to get her to stay and protect them, but she declined gently, instead saying that she would drop by everyone and a while to check up on them, citing that she had other jobs to do and had just been passing through.

She left the village that night, moving off to the next town. The place was utterly deserted when she arrived shortly after midday, hesitating at the edge of town. There were five lurking around the village, despite the fact that absolutely _no one_ was out and about, and the hanyoma padded blatantly out into the town, barely pausing for an instant when she felt the yoma turn in her direction, moving towards her - and ever closer to their own deaths. The first of the monsters appeared at the end of the street she was on, smiling in a seemingly pleasant manner at her. "Welcome," he said, "are you an ordinary person? Can I help you?"

"Perhaps," she replied, "I need enough food to last for a week. Where is the general store?"

"Oh, that's easy. Follow me." He turned and walked away, and Clare paced after him, purposely moving faster to catch up with him, and when she got close, one of the other yoma lunged at her from a side alley. She immediately used the Quicksword to kill both the attacking and the deceiving yoma, moving to track the other three as they sprinted through the town, playing a strange game of cat and mouse. Finally, she met up with one of the monsters and spun out of the way of its attack, splitting its arm in half as she moved. The yoma snarled in pain and tried to attack again with its other arm, but it failed again; she hacked off the limb and cut off its head before slaying the flying yoma by throwing Ryoushi's claymore through its back. She sighed in relief when it hit the ground, twitched, and lays still, grabbing a hold of the Awakened One's blade and pulling it from the corpse, decapitating it for good measure before she turned to go.

As she left the town, she distinctly heard someone shout after her, "Thank you!"

* * *

Clare had not expected to find that boy - Raki - out in the desert, but it didn't truly surprise her; stories like hers were all too common. When it was revealed that - no; for all its commonality, that might not be the case here. She shook off the weight of the memory of that night and picked him up carefully, cradling him against her as she changed her course to head into Egon and drop him off at one of the inns in town.

The keeper at the inn she chose seemed surprised to see her, but she couldn't afford to delay; the yoma she'd been tracking was on the move again, and she had to pursue it. It lead her on a merry chase through the forest around the village and the foothills of the mountain range it was backed up against, the trees too close and the risk of falling to her death too great for her to use Instantaneous Acceleration to catch up to it.

She ran after it well into the wee hours of the night and early morning; each time she thought she was getting closer to making a kill, it pulled away from her and vanished into the forest. In midmorning, she pretended to give up the hunt and dropped back away from the yoma, pacing silently through the trees to try and get the jump on it through stealth.

The beast had stopped and she moved through the foliage in utter silence to attack it.

And then she saw Raki.

The yoma was walking toward him in human form, wearing the uniform of a fallen claymore, and Raki appeared not to realize that it was a yoma; he was an ordinary person, could not sense the foul youki that this thing emanated, but what he did pick up on was just as much of a giveaway. "You're not a claymore!" he shouted, pushing the beast away, "They never, ever call themselves by that name!"

"Oh? Is that so?" Clare felt the surge of youki before the beast transformed. "I didn't know. I'll have to remember that for next time." I t appeared behind the boy and grabbed him by the hair, said something too low for her to hear before shouting at her to come out of hiding. Clare blanked her face, removing all traces of emotion from her body and youki before stepping out from behind her tree.

Raki whispered her name; she was surprised he'd remembered a monster like her.

"For a moment there," the yoma hissed, interrupting their moment, "I thought you had given up, but you stick to me like a shadow. You're not one of the organization's warriors, though, so I wonder where you got that blade?"

Clare ignored the beast's words and took a single, threatening step forward, reaching up to grasp the black handle of Ryoushi's claymore, but the yoma commanded her to stop, lifting a clawed hand to the human's throat and demanding that she drop her sword. "What makes you think that a hostage will stop me?"

"I never thought that it would, not until yesterday," the monster admitted, "but when I saw you carry him into town so tenderly, I changed my mind. I thought - no, I _knew_ he could be useful." Its lips curled. "You may be part-monster and a ruthless killer, but you're still human. Even if you can keep your emotions in check, a silver-eyed witch can't forget the memories of her past life. For instance, when you were human, you might have had a little brother. Perhaps this boy reminds you of him." It laughed suddenly. "Well? Am I right? Go ahead! If you can kill me along with the boy, then do it!"

Clare whipped the sword out of the holster over her back - and tossed it away, the ancient blade landing on the bottom of the dry riverbed one whose bank they stood. The yoma was surprised for a moment before it laughed and laughed and laughed. "You fool!" it shouted, "You humans really are fools! No, you're only half human; you claymores are half of nothing!" It lunged at her, and she let it plunge its hand into her gut before she grabbed its upper arm and let herself fall backwards into the riverbed. She landed on top of it and slammed a booted foot down on its free arm, reaching for Ryoushi's claymore; in a single instant, she chopped off its arm at the elbow and cut off the top of its head in a spray of blood.

Slowly, bit by bit, she pulled the yoma arm from her stomach, her natural healing processes closing the wound once the block was cleared. She had just finished healing when Raki ran up, apologies bublling from his lips in a fervent plea for forgiveness; she simply said, "Don't get the wrong idea; I threw my sword away to trap the yoma. If I had gone through you to get to him, he would have killed you and gotten away, so I dropped my weapon to draw him in." Without even realizing it, she had cleaned the blade and traced Ryoushi's mark - a cross with a pentagon over it, two of the corners of the shape touching the ends of the cross beam - before sheathing the weapon. "What are you doing out here, anyway?" she asked when Raki feigned comprehension, "You're a long way from your village."

When the boy tensed and lowered his head, she stated more than asked, "Did they throw you out?"

Raki visibly started when she asked that, and he said, "N-no, I..."

Clare's eyes softened as she remembered what they had said in her home village when they thought she couldn't hear them.

_Poor Clare._

_What will we do with her?_

_Her mother and father were killed, and her brother was a yoma._

_The poor thing._

_But if we raise her here, we can't say fr sure that she's not a yoma herself. Truth be told, the ones to be afraid of are those close to the yoma' s victims._

"No... that's not why... I just... I'm not a yoma..."

"Do you know how to cook?"

Raki looked up at her, confusion clear in his still teary eyes.

"You said before," Clare expanded, "that you did the cooking. Are you any good?" When he nodded vigorously through his tears of pain, she continued, "Okay then. You can follow me until we reach a village where you want to live."

Raki brightened, visibly heartened by Clare's words, and so they set out together.

The next day, they were out in the desert, moving back across the wastelands, Clare tracking another yoma; despite the fact that she was not a sensor-class like Ryoushi or Teresa, she had impressive detection abilities for what she specialized in and and equally impressive range. However, the growling of Raki's stomach put all of her abilities to shame; it could probably be heard half-way around the world. She didn't suppose she had any right to be surprised, thought; she had been the same way when she was human.

She used Ryoushi's claymore to pin a large lizard-like being to a sand dune, too fast for him to track and asked if that would be suitable for eating. He replied that it would when he turned to look at it, but his voice was slightly shaky as if he had been expecting her to hurt him. Why would she have done that after all the energy she'd put into keeping him alive?

In order to cook the lizard, they stopped early that day, and Clare began teaching Raki bushcraft after learning that the boy had never even built a fire outside of an oven She showed him what wood to use for the fire and what not to set and how to set rudimentary snares, just like Ryoushi had taught her, while they waited for the fire to get up to cooking temperature. Even then it was several hours before the food was ready, well after nightfall, and when she ate so little, Clare was forced to explain about hanyomas' eating habits - right before her head snapped around, senses on high alert. She didn't know what she was searching for, only that it was near, and she was straining to hear the sounds of its passage.

She reached for the Awakened One's blade, telling Raki to stay where he was as she padded into the trees, searching for the something tingling at the edge of her awareness, a sound that wasn't.

"You are a sentimental as Teresa ever was."

She whipped around, bringing the claymore sword up into an attack position, tensing even further when she saw that it was one of the infamous men in black - a handler from the organization. He wore the same shapeless black clothing that they all did, save that he had a dark hat perched atop his bald head and opaque sunglasses covering his eyes. The moment she laid eyes on him, something about the man set her immediately on edge, an oppressive aura of darkness, and when he recognized the symbol on her blade, that heavy aura increased a hundred fold, a dangerous smirk pulling his lips into a mockery of a smile. "Ah," he said, "so the First Escapee is still alive, is he? No offense meant, but you don't look like you could take on an Awakened Number Two."

"... Who are you?"

"I am Rubel, his former handler." Rubel gave a mockery of a bow to her from were he leaned against a tree.

"That's impossible; Ryoushi-san Awakened over eighty years ago. You'd be dead if you were his handler."

"Ah, but hanyoma like yourself do not age, either. Who's to say that the organization hasn't found out how to stop people from aging without making them half-yoma?" He smirked, and she gritted her teeth.

"What do you want with me, then?"

He pulled out an envelope that was as black as the night around them, and her eyes widened sharply. "A black card?"

"So they told you about them, did they?" His smirk widened. "Yes. Her name is Elena, and she's waiting on Mount Shire. The one whom she wants to be killed by, died last week while on a hunt for an Awakened Being, and no hanyoma other than yourself is close enough to to the job before she Awakens."

"Does she know this? Despite the fact that I am not a part of the organization?"

"She knows. I've been watching you for a while now, Clare. I know that I can at least rely on you to get the job done." He tossed the envelope at her and turned away, vanishing into the trees. She caught the paper and pulled out the actual black card, examining the symbol embossed onto the paper. It was effectively a line with a crown attached at its middle, and she memorized it before returning to Raki, the black card concealed in one of her pockets.

"It's okay, Raki," she said, noting the human's concerned look, "It was just a yoma that was too close for comfort. We need to be ready to cross Mount Shire first thing in the morning."

* * *

The sun was warm and gentle that morning as they paced up into the mountains, the human trailing behind the half yoma warrior, and finally he got up the courage to ask, "Hey, Clare, can I ask you something? Are... are we going after a yoma?"

Clare was silent for a moment. "No. I've been commissioned to take down someone you would call a claymore."

"Huh? What? One of your own? Buy why - why do you have to do that?"

"You do know that we're half-monster, right?"

"Well, yeah..."

"In our bodies, we hold the power of the yoma and control it with our human minds, which preserve our identities. We're basically monsters with human heads. That's what is meant by 'half-human, half-monster.' Even though we're half-breeds, we side with humans and kill yoma. We are humankind's greatest defense against them, and before we existed, humans were powerless against the yoma. However, by using the yoma's own power against them, humans found that they could defeat them, but there is one big drawback.

"Half-breeds eventually become full-blown monsters." She sighed softly. "If we lived like normal humans, it wouldn't be a problem, but the more we use the yoma's strength and abilities, the coler we are to becoming one of them. There's a tug-of-war between our human minds and yoma bodies, and eventually the human mind breaks down, turning us into full-fledged yoma. To prevent that from happening, the organization has a plan. It's called a black card."

Raki took Elena's card from Clare and examined it. "It's like the symbol on your sword," he said.

"Yes. When hanyoma are sent to work by the organization, they are given a unique mark that represents their name and identifies them within the organization. And..." She pulled out the handle decoration and pulled out the ancient sheet of paper inside, still in perfect condition. "... the hilts of their swords also carry a black card."

"What... what do you mean, 'they?'"

"I am not a part of the organization, Raki."

"But - then where did you get your claymore?"

"It belongs to a friend of mine, a former warrior named Ryoushi. For some reason we have yet to fathom, he turned into a yoma - but kept his human mind. He taught both me and another hanyoma everything we know about fighting and surviving." She looked at the symbol on the blade. "Both Ryoushi and the other hanyoma were part of the organization at some point and so had swords of their own, but I never did. So Ryoushi is letting me use his.

"But... ordinarily, when hanyoma know that they're about to turn monster, that their human mind has reached its limit... they send their black card to the one they want to be killed by."

"Then whose card is this?"

"Her name is Elena. Because I was the only half-yoma warrior in the area, one of the organization's handlers asked me to end her life."

There was the clack of steel on stone, and both of them turned to see the claymore to whom the black card belonged standing a short distance away. "So you're the one they sent," she said softly, her long blonde hair being tugged by the wind that raced over the mountain.

"I am." She bowed slightly. "My name is Clare."

Elena smiled. "It's nice to meet you, Clare. I'm sure that if we had met before now, we could have been friends."

"Of that I have no doubt." She lifted her blade and held it into an attack position. "I shall endeavor to make your end as painless as possible, Elena-san." The other hanyoma smiled and closed her eyes, tilting her head up towards the sun, and before Raki could protest, Clare made the strike, slicing her back open and severing her spine so that she would not feel the pain as she died.

Raki was sobbing heavily as they buried her on the cliff overlooking the beautiful valley below, his tears wetting the soil as they laid out her body in the grave and covered her with the multicolored soil, using her sword as a gravemarker, the way all hanyoma's graves were declared. Clare said a prayer for her soul, wishing her well on her journey to the afterlife before guiding Raki away.


	3. Two: Darkness in Paradise

A/N: Happy Winter Solstice! Or Yule, to those of you who claim Wicca and other such religions as your own. Whatever you celebrate, I hope it's merry!

* * *

Two: Darkness in Paradise

Clare was not expecting to meet Rubel again so soon after Elena's death, but he was waiting for her after Raki fell asleep that night. "What the hell do you want?" she growled, low enough to where her voice would not wake the human but loud enough for him to hear her.

"I just wanted to tell you that you did an excellent job with Elena."

"Bullcrap."

"Hm." He chuckled unpleasantly. "Very perceptive of you. The yoma that you're tracking," he said, waving in the general direction of the aura she was indeed hunting, "it's in Rabona."

That made her freeze. Rabona, the holy city; any and all unnatural things - objects, tools, people - were forbidden in the city. It would be impossible to get in unless she sneaked in and moved in a single night, but that would be impossible; there were simply too many people in the city, and she would be spotted no matter how fast she moved to kill the beast. The guards would delay her entrance and departure, and that might give the yoma time to escape from her.

"So?"

"We received a request about it."

She narrowed her eyes. "And you want me to deal with it because I'm not as suspicious as an ordinary warrior?"

"Well, you were already on your way, so..." He tossed her a container, and she caught it, opening it and examining the pills that spilled out onto her hand. "Youki suppression pills. They'll change your eyes back to their natural color, but you'll lose the ability to sense youki. In addition, they'll only last for half a day, but there should be plenty there for you to use."

Clare picked up one of the pills and put the rest away, examining the slightly bumpy sphere.

"Also..." Her gaze snapped up, and Rubel held out a mass of cloth. "I took the liberty of getting you a replacement top. You can't very well walk into Rabona with torn clothes." She reluctantly reached out and accepted the clothes, holding it out for inspection. It was very similar to the one she wore now, so she quickly changed into it to test the fit; a little loose around the shoulders, but some small adjustments made it fit.

* * *

She and Raki entered the city the next day and rented a room in the cheapest inn in town, Clare expertly playing the part of a caring older sister for the young human. The organization had provided a disguise for Ryoushi's claymore, a statue with a false bottom that could be pulled out so that the blade could be concealed inside. The human boy was carrying the weapon as was typically expected of their society, though there was no way that he could hope to actually wield the blade without help.

The hanyoma expertly moved through the streets of the city towards the cathedral that the buildings had grown up around, entering through the main arch and passing all of the ordinary people in the main hall, praying to the god of Rabona. The pair moved into the baptismal hall after being stopped by a guard, and Raki peered at the mummies lying in sarcophagi about the room as they moved forward. Clare carefully examined the pads beneath the mummies, searching for any sign of the yoma; she noticed a particularly suspicious-looking one and made a mental note to keep an eye on it as she approached one of the priests. "Are you Father Vincent?" she asked as she approached, and when he replied that he was, she said, "It is an honor to meet you." She knelt in front of him, and they performed the required rituals for the baptism.

"I baptize you in the name of our lord. What is the name of yours?" Vincent asked.

"It is Rimuto," she said as instructed by Rubel, "I have come from the land of Sutafu."

Vincent visibly tensed but kept control of himself. Leaning in to speak to her with appearing suspicious, "Then... you are... I see. Let's meet later this evening in the south room on the top floor. There is a curfew at night so it will be hard to move around; will you be all right?"

"Leave it to me, father," she said, and he finished up the ceremony, Clare and Raki departing after it was done and returning to exploring the town, finally returning to the inn around dinner time. Unfortunately, because of her physiology, Clare could not eat all of the food provided for her, forcing Raki to eat the rest of it before Clare departed for the cathedral, leaping easily across the rooftops too fast for the human eye to track, and she used a grappling hook to climb up to the top of the tower where Father Vincent was waiting. "I was asked by the organization to take out a yoma concealing itself in the city of Rabona, is that correct?"

"Yes, I was the one who wrote the request - what do you mean, 'asked...?'"

"I am not actually a part of the organization; I am... and 'independent' half-yoma warrior, I guess you could say. Tell me what has happened; the man who gave me the information did not provide much."

Vincent invited her to sit and said, "The first to die was Father Van. Since then, my colleagues have fallen victim to the beast one by one, and each time, it has happened inside the cathedral. This cannot be made public; if the world finds out that we are being picked off by a monster, the people will lose faith."

"Yoma treat all equally, those who have money and those who don't, those who have status and those who don't, believers and nonbelievers. Male, female, young, old - it doesn't matter to them. As long as they have flesh, they are prey."

Vincent shuddered, then said, "Help us, I beg you. I don't want to die. I can pay whatever you want. To die so horribly, the way the others did..."

"Keep the money; because it is the organization who received the request, it is them whom you will pay when the job is done." She closed her eyes. "I can faintly sense the beast's aura, somewhere on the ground floor, but no definite location." She opened her eyes and looked up at the priest. "If I die fighting the beast, would you do me a favor by taking care of the boy who is traveling with me? You don't need to worry; he's just an ordinary boy, but yoma killed his family, leaving him with nowhere to turn. He's a good cook, and he could be an attendant to the priests, even a floor sweeper - anything would do. Will you accept him?"

Vincent laughed bitterly, getting up and pacing the room, saying, "I'm humbled. Here I am, a servant of our lord, and yet I'm only concerned with saving myself. You, a half-yoma forbidden to set foot in this town, have clearly resolved to lay down your life fighting the creature if that is what it takes; you are more concerned with the fate of the boy with you than your own. I accept, but please, do not think of dying. Though this must be kept secret, I will do everything in my power to assist you. Let us not do anything to make your companion suffer."

"Thank you. I'm in your debt."

As she was returning to the inn where Raki was sleeping, she sensed the throwing daggers aimed at her back, and she blurred out of the way - right before another guard attempted to slip her in two with a longsword. She quickly slid out of the way, and the guard growled, "You know you're breaking curfew by being out this late at night. You'll only have yourself to blame if you're mistaken for a monster and killed while running around up here."

Clare narrowed her eyes and darted up into the first and slowest stage of Instantaneous Acceleration, a still incredibly fast motion that the humans couldn't track, and she slipped away and back to the inn, sitting next to the window as her senses steadily came back up to a more normal level. She could feel the yoma moving about in the bottom floor of the cathedral; it was settling down as the sun rose, but Clare wasn't able to pinpoint its location before Raki jerked awake. Guards came shortly after, forcing her to pull up her hood and swallow a suppression pill as fast as she could, her sense of the yoma vanishing seconds later as the medicine came into effect. "Don't move," the first guard growled, "We're looking for yoma. The half-eaten bodies of two soldiers were found yesterday in the cathedral. Come with us."

The guards searched the room and were just about to let them go when the two guards that Clare fought on the roofs last night arrived. "Yeah, he was about that height. Looked pretty suspect, running around the rooftops last night. Didn't you two arrive in town yesterday?"

"Sid, Galk," the first guard said, "Weren't you supposed to be on duty in the cathedral last night?"

"Ah, take it easy! I'm not saying I think the guy from last night was a yoma. It's not like the thing suddenly showed up yesterday or today. But for someone to dodge my throwing knives while in midair... that's not something an ordinary person could do." He whipped off her hood and was surprised to see a girl there, rather than the male they expected. "Well, a silver-eyed witch could dodge it even better than a trained assassin, and it wouldn't surprise me if she could change the color of her eyes..."

Clare's green eyes narrowed before she slammed her knee into his groin with as much force as she dared, sending his falling to the ground in pain. "Don't insult me by accusing me of being one of those half-breeds; they're just as bad as the monsters themselves in my eyes," she lied expertly, eyes flashing with false fury.

"Are you done here?" Raki demanded of one of the guards.

"Uh, uh, yes, we are."

"Then kindly get out of our room. This pumpkin head has put both me and my sister in a foul mood." Raki turned away, distinctly muttering something about Sid daring to accuse his sister of being half-yoma. Galk helped Sid out of the room, the rest of the guards following them out, and then the human turned back to Clare. "You're an impressive actress, Clare," he said quietly so that the guards wouldn't hear them even if they had their ears plastered to the door.

"Thank you. Teresa taught me well."

They returned to the cathedral to speak with Father Vincent, who told them about the guards and the previous victims. "Hmm. It appears to have a voracious appetite. Usually yoma don't eat much; it's enough for them to eat the guts of a human every week or two, but the longer a monster lives, the more its appetite grows. They become more cunning and much stronger. We call them voracious eaters, and I'm afraid one of them is hiding in the cathedral. I was not able to pinpoint its location this morning, but the last I felt of it, it was in this room."

"The baptismal hall?" Vincent whispered.

"Yes. I'll come here tonight to kill it, so if you could keep everyone out of the area, I would be much obliged."

"I believe I can do that."

Clare eyed the suspicious body that she'd spotted yesterday and noticed that it had been moved. 'Hmm...'

That night, she leapt across the rooftops towards the cathedral, only to encounter Sid and Galk on the way. She unhesitatingly let her hood slide back so that the guards could see her face. "Ho, ho... So much for not being one of those 'half-breeds,' eh, sister?" the cocky youngling growled, and Clare only spared him a slightly disdainful glance.

"Sorry," she said, "but I don't have time for this. If you're going to come at me, go ahead. I'm not going to hold back just because you're human." They leapt at her, but she blocked both Galk's longsword and Sid's throwing knives, attempting to strike back with Ryoushi's daggers. They proved to be just as powerful as their maker, slicing cleanly though the armor of the Rabona guard when he brought up an arm to defend himself, though the blades didn't touch flesh, and when she brought one around to deflect Sid's throwing knives, they irreparable damaged the other's weapons, leaving long cracks in two of the blades and breaking the third in two.

When she dodged away and Galk came at her again, grabbing one of her swords to prevent her from blocking Sid's attack, but she ducked out of the way and darted into the cathedral, senses on high alert. The yoma was definitely there, she could feel it even though she couldn't see it, but instinct asserted itself and she dodged out of the way just in time as it tried to crush her with one of its fists. Three throwing knives found their marks in its shoulders, Galk and Sid having followed her in. She shouted, "Fall back! You're no match for it!" but the yoma lunged to attack them before they could move, forcng Clare to put herself between the humans and beast. It unhesitatingly slashed her with its claws, and she collapsed to the ground as blood spurted from the wound. Several vital arteries had been slashed, forcing her to release her youki or bleed to death, and when the yoma lunged again, she threw one of Ryoushi's blades through its left eye.

The yoma screamed in pain and tore the weapon out of its socket, dropping it to the ground with a clatter of steel on stone, lunging forward to attack, and Clare kicked Sid out of the way right before the yoma plunged its hands into the stone where he'd been standing. She slashed out, aiming for its head, but it lifted its arm to block, Ryoushi's blade cutting cleanly through the tough yoma flesh and bone. Galk tried to attack the beast, but it broke his sword in two and extended his fingers towards his face; Clare slammed down on its arm, blade cutting through muscle and sinew, but because the yoma no longer had another arm, it couldn't run her through. It made due with what it had, curving the fingers of its other hand back around and driving them through her torso. Clare coughed up blood and slowly lost consciousness, the yoma vanishing into the darkness of the cathedral when more guards arrived.

* * *

She regained consciousness two nights later, her wounds barely half-healed and her body radiating energy like a normal warrior. Thankfully there had not been any deaths during her period of unconsciousness, Father Vincent explained after she awoke, and they had sealed the baptismal hall from the public after that night, one of the guards removing the yoma arm to prevent it from healing itself. Clare could feel the yoma rampaging about below them, searching for a way out, but just to be safe, she didn't go after it right away, instead asking Father Vincent to gather the other priests after she checked him over to make sure he was not a yoma.

She followed him in, and all of the priests shouted protests the moment she showed them her silver eyes. "Please," she implored them quietly, their calls falling silent as they listened, "I already know where the yoma is; for safety's sake, I need to look all of you over to make sure there is not another hiding amongst you who could attack while I go to fight the first."

The priests gulped quietly before the one called Bishop Kamuri stepped forward and said in a slightly whispery voice, "Then I shall go first. I have nothing to hide." One by one, she looked the priests over and declared them clean until all of the priests were clear.

"Thank you for your cooperation," she said when she was done, bowing slightly to them before she disappeared downstairs into the baptismal hall where the yoma was hiding, grabbing Ryoushi's claymore along the way and bursting through the doors to the hall, the yoma charging her the moment the thick wooden barriers were open. The other guard arrived just in time to see her silver eyes turn yoma gold, one of her arms bulging with enhanced muscle as she swept Ryoushi's claymore through its arm, the flesh and bone providing very little resistance against the sharp blade, perfect as the day it was forged. Her wounds had reopened, but she was fighting through the pain, blurring backwards when the yoma tried to plunge its other hand into her gut. She performed a swift Quicksword on its arm to shatter it to pieces and was getting ready to cut off its head when it lunged forward onto her blade.

"Fool!" it shouted, "No matter where you slice, you'll never hit my weak spot! And don't think I'm going to give you a second chance!"

Clare flared her youki and twisted the blade in its gut, slicing up through the beast's head, the body collapsing moments later. Panting with the strain, she looked down at the blood staining her hands, the fingers shaking faintly, and she tensed suddenly, letting go of Ryoushi's claymore and slumping to the ground. Her youki began to surge wildly through her body, causing her muscles to thicken and increase in power. 'Oh, no...' she thought, trying to force the flow back under her control, 'I... I'm going to Awaken... I... can't turn back...'

"Clare!"

"Stay back!" she shouted, bringing Ryoushi's claymore up to her neck, "If we use too much yoma power while we're weak, the flow becomes unstoppable, so while I still have a human consciousness, I'm ending my life. Raki." The human's terrified eyes locked with hers. "If you take my sword to the mountains of Gonahl, you'll find a group of claymore living in the mountains. Tell them I sent you. They'll take care of you for as long as you wish to stay."

"Clare, what are you saying...?" Against her will, Raki took several steps toward her.

"I'm sorry... but this is goodbye." But suddenly, she lost control of her sword arm, the blade being brought down execution-style towards the human that had been traveling with her, but she sent another surge of youki into her arm, contracting the muscles so that the blade only severed a few or Raki's hairs rather than cutting him in half. She dropped into a crouch, sword plunging into the stone floor of the baptismal hall, and hissed, "Galk, help me..."

"Huh? No! Don't!"

"I'm sorry, Raki, but I'm turning into a yoma. As I aid, themore power we use, the closer we are to becoming yoma. It's not always slow; sometimes it happens all at once. This time, I used too much yoma power when I was mentally and physically exhausted, and now I can't stop the flow. I asked Father Vincent to take care of you if you don't want to go to Gonahl. Goodbye." But the human surprised her again by unhesitatingly stepping beneath Galk's blade and hugging her tightly.

"I'm so happy I got to travel with you, Clare. My family was killed, the town shunned me, even cast me out; everything I loved, everything I knew , I lost all at once. That's why I'm happy I could travel with you, to have someone else to be with. You always said you weren't kind, but you were kinder to me than anyone. That's why I don't want anybody else; I just want to be with you. That's why... if you die, I'm going with you."

Clare's eyes widened in shock, but then there was no time for thought; her youki surged through her body again, her aura cracking the stone below her, scattering dust into the air. And much to her surprise, the flow of youki stopped, returning to normal after she went over her limits just the tiniest amount. Raki immediately threw his arms around her and began to cry, clinging to the hanyoma than he had gotten so attached to. A single, solitary human boy... had stopped her from turning into an Awakened One.

* * *

Clare rested well into the next day, her wounds almost entirely healed, and she suppressed her youki as low as it would go again, trying to get it to disappear but knowing that it would take more time. She had made the decision to return to their sanctuary in Gonahl to complete her recovery and introduce Raki to the others living there; it was about time for her to return, anyway. They left the city with the profuse thanks of the priests and the guards, and though no one was permitted to tell the town what Clare had done for them, they rejoiced in their hearts as they watched her go, somehow just knowing that she could return one day to save them again.


	4. Three: The Slashers

Three: The Slashers

Rubel came to her a few days after she killed the yoma in Rabona to give her half of the fee for it as "payment for services rendered" and told her that while she was on a roll, there was a confirmed Awakened Being attacking a town west of their location if she decided to go after it. She gritted her teeth; of course she would, she couldn't just let the three warriors hunt it alone. Even if the single digit was competent, there was no way in hell just the three of them cold take on the beast that she could sense. Clare asked Raki to stay in the town while she went to help the warriors, and he agreed, so long as she swore that she would return alive and un-yomafied. The term made her smile and lift an eyebrow, Raki stuttering to explain, but she told him that she knew what he meant and promised to come back unharmed.

She arrived at the scene just in time to see the leader of the group slash what looked to be an ordinary person in half at the waist, but it lunged away after slashing open her shoulder, clinging to a rock wall above the trio as Clare, hooded and cloaked, approached them. "Our information..." the leader gasped, "was wrong. We heard that it was an average voracious eater, but do they really think that we can defeat something this powerful?"

The hanyoma turned her head to watch as the Awakened One's youki flared up to its normal level, well beyond the three's capabilities and her own, without their help. It attacked the second strongest of the warriors before she could react, its tongue tearing off her left arm, and Clare caught the hanyoma as she fell. The beast spat out the remains of the limb and complained of the taste. "You son of a-" The weakest of the organization's warriors lunged toward the Awakened One, bringing her sword down onto the rock where the Awakened One had been, but the beast dodged and retreated up the cliff side; she leapt back down, but the monster followed her down and slammed his fist into the ground where she had been.

"Helen!" the leader cried in warning, but once again, Clare was there to hack off its tongue, protecting the other warrior from injuries. The one called Helen flared her youki - and extended her arms, weaving her arm though its extra limbs and hacking off three arms, but the beast reattached them before they'd hit the ground and tried to attack Helen, only to have the middle-strength hanyoma - "Deneve!" - drop down from up above and hack off its hands at the wrists. Clare was surprised, and she wasn't the only one; apparently the leader of the troop had thought that she was out for the count, too.

Deneve's arm was regenerating at an incredible rate, almost at the average level of healing Ryoushi attained as an Awakened defensive type using offensive moves, and the Awakened One the four of them were fighting began regenerating, too, regrowing its arms in a matter of seconds. "Damn," the one called Helen growled, "It doesn't matter how many arms we chop off; we've got to take the head. What was it that you said before, Miria? How can there be a male Awakened Being? Don't Awakened Ones come from us?"

Miria was silent for a moment, then said, "He's a failed creation, a male warrior from the early days, though I shouldn't say that he's a failed creation. The males - like the females created at the same time - were a success in the beginning, half-human, half-yoma, but like this one, they quickly exceeded their limits and Awakened. Up until the First Escapee, all of the male and female warriors were forced to roam in packs of five and six so that they could slay their comrades if they Awakened. In a sense, the Awakening is much like pleasure; when a male releases his yoma energy, he can't suppress the urge to Awaken. So the organization decided to stop making male warriors and put them to pasture as voracious eaters, in some cases being purposely sent on missions that would kill them or cause them to Awaken. That is how there came to be female warriors called claymores and male Awakened Beings."

Clare watched Miria as she spoke, then turned to look at the Awakened One. 'Purposely given missions that would cause them to Awaken...? Is it possible that Ryoushi was given one such mission? He always had extraordinary control over his youki and lived a long time for a hanyoma - almost eight years from receiving his number to Awakening. Could the organization have been intending to get rid of the males way back then and started with him?' She was so caught up in her thoughts that she almost missed the Awakened One moving to attack, and she dodged just in time, blurring out of the way of its strike. Because her youki was almost completely suppressed, it seemed as if she was simply a very weak warrior, and due to that, the Awakened One underestimated her rather severely, only trying to pierce her with its fingers. Rather than chop the being's claws to bits as she was wont to do, Clare simply dodged the attack, but the Awakened One failed to notice, instead moving right on to slashing Helen's back open and leaving her out for the count. Miria appeared not to notice her either, moving straight into getting Helen and Deneve off of the battlefield.

The independent hanyoma had some experience tending to wounds and harmonizing yoma energy, so she knelt to help the worse off of the two, closing her eyes and helping to accelerate the healing of Deneve's stomach while Miria fought against the Awakened Being. Despite the fact that Miria used a technique similar to the Instantaneous Acceleration Ryoushi had taught her, Miria's skill was very inefficient, and as such, she could not use it as long as she would not doubt like to. When Deneve was in the clear and Miria reaching her limit, Clare stood up and turned around just in time to see the Number Six get pinned by one of the beast's hands, arms trapped against her sides. "Got you now!" the Awakened One shouted, "You really gave it your all, but I knew it couldn't last. I only had to wait for you to reach your limits."

She groped for purchase on the broken stone, trying to get enough of a grip to tug herself free, but there was none to be had.

"Now then..." the Awakened One murmured, extending his tongue, "How shall I torture you to death?" He plunged his tongue into her gut, making her cry out in utter agony - right before the air screamed at the speed at which Clare moved through it, slicing the Awakened One's tongue and arm and tearing back to place Miria next to the other warriors in a single instant. She gave the single digit a brief once-over, making sure that she could heal herself before refocusing on the Awakened One. "You... you moved faster than Gen'ei no Miria, but there is no warrior of the organization who can do that. And based on your attire... I'd say you are a freelance warrior who was passing through and decided to help. But that brings to light the question - whose blade is that on your back?"

Clare reached up and pulled the claymore from the holster on her back, holding the weapon so that the symbol on it was clearly visible to all who were present, and Miria gasped audibly behind her; she knew whose claymore that sword was, but for those who didn't understand, Clare explained, "This blade belonged - no, it _belongs_ to the still-living Awakened Number Two, Ryoushi the Hunter, the First Escapee and the person who trained both myself and Bishou no Teresa. And as to who I am... you don't need to know. You won't live long enough to remember me." And then she began walking towards him, Ryoushi's claymore loose in her hand.

The Awakened One gritted his sharp teeth at her words and extended the claws of one of his hands in her direction - only to have them shatter into pieces the moment they approached. "Huh? What? What is this?" The Awakened One lifted his other free hands and began launching attack after attack at her, fingers regenerating as fast as she cut them apart with Irene's Quicksword; because of the Awakened One's own oppressive youki, none of them could sense the energy she was funneling into her arm to speed up her fighting technique. It took her perhaps two and a half minutes to reach the Awakened One, and then it was over. The air screamed again as she vanished from in front of the Awakened One, appearing on its back and severing all five of its remaining arms in a single swipe. However, during the time if had taken her to reach the beast, it had regenerated the limb she'd cut off to rescue Miria, and it used this to slap her off its back, but she twisted like a cat in midair, landing on her feet and skidding a few yards before coming to a stop.

"You're technique... is a lot more efficient than mine. If Ryoushi the Hunter really taught you that... perhaps I, too. should seek him out for some supplemental training - even if he is an Awakened One." Miria had mostly healed herself and regained her feet, approaching the fighting pair.

"You'd... be hard-pressed to find him... without sensing abilities on-par with those of Bishou no Teresa." Clare stood up and tightened her grip on Ryoushi's blade. "You'll never find him unless he wants to be found."

The air screamed again as both Clare and Miria blurred out of the way, the Awakened One extending his claws at them from underground, his sole remaining arm being used to balance his hunched figure. "There's so much I want to ask you," Miria said as they both reappeared, lifting their swords in preparation for attack, "but since you're not likely to tell us the truth... Let's go! Don't fall behind!"

"You either!" Clare called, and they both blurred forward, wind howling around them at the speed of their displacement as they charged the Awakened One. The monster managed to yank his fingers out of the ground in time to make one last attempt on their lives, but both of the high-speed warriors evaded and slashed the beast to bits, its purple blood staining the stone cliff on which they'd been fighting.

The two women returned to the spot where Deneve lay unconscious, and Miria gave her a once-over. "Deneve looks to be alright for now, thanks to..."

"My name is Clare."

"Yes. Thank you, Clare, for helping her. She'll live, provided the wound closes soon." Miria got to her feet and turned to the other two. "And now, there's something I need to ask you both. It's extremely important for all of us, so I need you to answer me as honestly as possible - even you, Clare. Has there ever been a time when either of you have almost Awakened?"

Helen looked confused, but Clare responded, "Yes. I had fought the yoma in Rabona Cathedral and made the mistake of using my yoma power while I was mentally and physically exhausted. Up until that point, I had been keeping it suppressed, but it was then that I needed it. I felt a rush of suffering and ecstasy. Somehow I was able to pull myself back."

Helen hesitated, then reached up to rub her head sheepishly. "Same with me. I got carried away and lost control, went over my limits, but I was able to regain myself somehow. It happened to Deneve, too," she said, looking down at the still-unconscious warrior, "She told me about it. She was trying to discover her limits when it happened."

"When was that?"

"About the same time as me. We were in the same generation."

"Then answer me this: have you ever caused problems for a client or ordinary people?"

"I have, a few times. I've never taken a life, but there have been a few close calls. For Deneve, though, it was her own kind, not outsiders."

"Ad that leaves a powerful renegade warrior whose abilities the organization had no real clear grasp of but wanted to eliminate just the same." Both Miria and Helen looked at Clare, who stared right on back with equal intensity and curiosity. "In other words, we're all problems who've come close to Awakening."

"What?" Helen demanded, turing her gaze on Miria, "Are you saying that there's more to this mission than just slaying an Awakened One?"

"You heard Miria earlier, Helen-san," Clare said quietly, "Some of the male warriors were sent on mission that would kill them or force them to Awaken right before they were decommissioned. Are females so different that there is no possibility of them trying the same thing with us?"

Miria nodded to Clare, then said, "It's only speculation, but it's possible that we were purposely sent to fight an Awakened Being that it seemed like we were no match for."

"So how do you it in to this puzzle, Miria? You don't look like an Awakened Being or a problem case."

"I nearly Awakened, too, on my third hunt for an Awakened One. I realized I was hunting an old friend after I cut off her arms and legs and was about to take her head. Until that moment, she hadn't called my name. said a word, or reverted to her original form and showed me her face." Miria closed her eyes, the weight of memory clearly visible in the sudden slump of her shoulders, but finally she opened her eyes, only Clare catching the faint gleam of a tear in the corner of her eye. "After that day, I swore that I would take revenge on the people who made me what I am."

"You didn't Awaken, then."

"So it would seem. I was fully aware that I had gone over my limits, but I tried to suppress my youki as best I could, but the fact that I didn't want to be provoked by _her_ may have helped." She shook her head to clear her mind of the powerful emotions associated with her dark day. "Anyway, after that, I plotted my revenge against the organization for what they did to my body and treating us like we're expendable. I did my best to look dutiful, but I was actually looking for a weakness, which is what lead to me discovering the organization's greatest secret."

"?"

"Trust me, some things are better left unsaid; if I told you, there would be no going back."

"So you learned something that the organization wants to hide, and now they've marked you for death?"

"Like I said, it's only speculation, possibly even paranoia, but we all have at least one common thread."

"Hm. I have one more thing to ask you before I depart. Has anything changed in us since we came so close to Awakening?"

Miria sighed heavily. "Aa. You might have noticed, and Helen more than you, Clare, if you haven't been using your yoma energy that often. The quality of our power is clearly different, not as limited as it was before, and now and then, we feel pangs of hunger. We four have already Awakened."

"You're not serious!" Helen shouted, making wide gestures with her hands, "Don't lump me together with those monsters; we aren't like that! I have no desire to eat human intestines!"

"Let me rephrase that, then. It's not that we have fully Awakened; rather, we're in a half-Awakened state. Most fully Awaken in one step, but we've stopped short for some reason." When Helen looked about to continue protesting, Miria continued, "Limb expansion and massive regenerative powers are possible at the outer limits of ones yoma power; you used these without difficulty only after a fight when you came close to Awakening, didn't you? After you've crossed you limits, returning to normal should be impossible."

"Then... what will... happen to us? Ar we just going to sit back... and watch ourselves Awaken?" Deneve had regained consciousness and had apparently heard the majority of their conversation.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know. We may have avoided Awkeneing altogether, or we might be slowly creeping towards it. Either way we won't know where or when we could Awaken. All we know is that the situation is precarious."

"Then I'll be the test case. Watch closely."

"Watch what?"

"This." And then Deneve relaxed her control of her yoma energy, letting it begin to surge throughout her body, causing Clare to freak briefly and snap her had towards Ryouhi's claymore on her back.

"Stop it, Deneve! If you try to force your yoma power in your condition-!"

"Shut up and watch!" she snarled back, "If I don't force it and try to regenerate, it'll take me months to recover. Let's see if I can release my power all at once. If we're in a half-Awakened state, I can use it to heal this wound instantly; the without fully Awakening, I should be able to return to normal. But if I can't do that and I Awaken, don't hesitate to kill me!"

Clare tightened her grip on Ryoushi's claymore and approached Deneve as Helen did the same, and they waited for several agonizing minutes before Deneve gasped, "Give me a break; I'm back already." Both Clare and Helen sighed in relief and retreated from their attack positions.

"Is your stomach all right?"

"Yes, the wound finally closed."

"Enough of this madness. You came back, but you may not be so lucky next time. There's too much we don't know. If you want to keep your human consciousness, try not to be so reckless."

"I know. I could live without another risk like that."

Miria sighed. "We'll part ways for now. We'll go back to our regions or..."

"I'm a wanderer. I slay yoma wherever I sense them."

"Right. We may have been misinformed about the job, but we carried it out just the same. It would be too risky for us to join forces against the know nothing, suspect nothing... we did our job and went home. That's what we want them to think, but don't let down your guard, even for a moment. Be careful and keep a low profile, try to stamp out your image as trouble makers. They're in no hurry to get rid of us, so we should get away with this for a while.

"Except for me." Sensing Helen's question, she continued, "I'm past the point of no return. I'll keep investigating the organization. Our Awakening doesn't leave us with much time, so I'll let you know if I've found something. Don't move against them until you hear from me, and don't worry. Your powers have grown since you almost Awakened. You'd rival any single digit; in the unlikely event that you'd have to fight another half-yoma warrior, you shouldn't be overwhelmed. You can imagine the strength of those below me from having seen me, Number Six. Numbers Six through Nine are all about the same. If you had to take any of them one on one, you should be able to handle them. " There were a handful of murmurs from Helen and Deneve at that. "The problem is Numbers Five and up. Truth be told, there's a big leap from Five to Six." Miria lifted her sword and drew the symbols of the top five one by one into the side of a rock. "These are the marks of the top five; remember them. For the right, Number Five Raphaela, Number Four Ophelia, Number Three Galatea, Number Two Beth, and Number One Alicia. Each of them is a monster; if you meet them, avoid engaging them. Although..." Miria looked at Clare. "You might be able to take Numbers Four and below, but I would advise avoiding them just the same."

Clare nodded in understanding.

"Everything I've said so far is only speculation; there's no clear evidence that the organization is trying to dispose of us. You don't have to view your comrades as enemies, but don't let your guard down just the same." She lifted her sword, and they all crossed blades. "May we live to meet again." Just before they turned to go, she said, "I almost forgot. There's one we should avoid most of all. She cares nothing for the lives of humans or her comrades, lusts for battle , and it delights her more than anything to see blood flow. We should avoid her even if it raises suspicion. She is obsessed with hunting the Awakened. Her name is Ophelia, the Blood-Soaked Warrior, Number Four."

Clare felt and eerie sense of deja vu ripple down her spine, as if someone had just walked over her grave. They all separated, Clare returned to the town to retrieve Raki and made the decision to return home early to get Ryoushi to examine her aura. They walked for almost a full two weeks to reach the town of Gonahl outside of the hanyoma pack's home, and she decided not to come in empty handed by buying some supplies from the town - only to discover that it had been utterly destroyed...


	5. Four: The Witch's Maw

Four: The Witch's Maw

Gonahl had been leveled.

Clare examined the broken windows, shattered stone, and crushed wood that had once been a bustling trade town, remembering the faces of all the people she knew here, who had been insanely grateful for the presence of the hanyoma in the mountains beyond. They had slain any and all yoma in the town in exchange for the people never telling any outsides about their presence, and now it was utterly destroyed by an Awakened One, no doubt.

She could sense a youki in the ruins and hesitantly walked towards it, instincts screaming at her to get the hell away from the town, but if it was the Awakened One, it felt like she could take it down. It would only be fair to the citizens of the town to avenge them; the humans had been so kind to them.

It was not the Awakened One, but a warrior who turned to look at them and said, "Oh. Hello. So what's with the little boy?"

"Who are you?" Clare asked. "Are you here to kill the yoma?"

"Yup!" She squeezed her eyes shut and smiled widely.

'If she's the only one that's been sent, she's probably a single digit. But which Number?' Clare tensed abruptly when the warrior disappeared and a voice whispered from behind her, "You smell like an Awakened Being." The hanyoma reacted automatically to the sudden presence of the warrior behind her, air screaming as she blurred out of the other's grasp, very careful not to use youki in her escape. "Rather quick, aren't you?" Ophelia whispered, "I wonder if I'll be able to take you down."

Footsteps drew their attention to a woman in rags who had approached them, and she said, "What's this? What are you all doing here?"

"Ah," said Ophelia,"I see you made it. I thought I would have more time to play."

"Two warriors and a human boy. How did you all end up together? I don't know, but the boy smells so delicious he's irresistible." As she said it, the former warrior reverted to her Awakened form and attacked; Clare grabbed Raki and managed to dodge the initial strike trying to keep an eye on both Ophelia and the Awakened One at the same time.

"Raki," she said quietly,"We need to get out of here. Wrap your arms around me and hold you breath as long as you can." The warrior hugged him tight to her and pumped as much youki as she dared into her legs to facilitate their escape, wind howling around them as she tore away from the city towards the hanyoma hideout in the mountains. Behind them, Ophelia tried to run after her, but the Awakened Being attacked her with its tentacles to prevent her from leaving the town.

Clare knew that Ryoushi could sense her releasing her youki; when he had begun to shrink and lose the finer points of his abilities, the other hanyoma had finally permitted him to start hunting humans again, provided there was at least one of them there to supervise his meals. Though she couldn't sense them, she knew that Irene and Ryoushi were the ones that were home and that they were no doubt already on their way, but there just wasn't enough time; Ophelia defeated the Awakened One with ease and suffered almost no damage, only pausing to fix what wounds she did receive, and Clare knew that no matter what, she was going to have to get Raki away if she wanted to be able to defeat Ophelia.

"Raki, we need to split up. We've been heading due north away from the town; from now on, I'll head north-east. You go north-west."

"B-but Clare..."

"Don't worry. She's only coming after me. She won't head in your direction, so you'll be fine."

"No, Clare! I want to stay with you!"

"Listen to me, I don't have time to explain in detail. She's going to sense my aura and come after me."

"No, no! That's not it!" Raki vigorously shook his head. "I want to help you, Clare! I know I'm completely useless, but I still want to stay by your side!I don't care if you don't help when she attacks me! I don't care if you use me for a shield or a decoy! But if you get taken out, or we separate and never meet again, I couldn't stand that! I don't care if I die; I want to stay with you!"

Clare did the only thing she could after hearing something like that; she kissed him. A gentle, tender kiss filled with all of the love and tenderness she felt towards him, finally pulling away when the breath grew stale in her lungs. "I promise you, Raki, I won't die. I'll live, and I'll find you. So stay alive! I swear I'll come looking for you! Until then, we both have to stay alive."

The human's eyes overflowed with tears, and he hugged her tight and looked back one last time before running into the trees, carrying the sword that Galk gave him when they were in Rabona. The hanyoma set a small prayer skyward to the god of Rabona, asking him to look after the young human, to lend him even a fragment of power so that he would survive for them to meet again. Then the air screamed again, and she was gone, tearing away from that location and trying to escape Ophelia. Clare purposely dropped some of her speed so that she could search for a good place to engage Number Four and so that the other could catch up; she was going to have to kill the other warrior in order to escape.

It didn't take long for Ophelia to find her, and Clare stared at her with a kind of loathing that came from a creature who knew it was about to die, accepted that fact, but refused to go down without a fight, dammit. The organization's warrior noticed that her claymore was still sheathed over her back and scowled. "Are you just giving up? How boring you are." She lunged forward, only to have her attack stopped by a focused Quicksword. "Huh? What's this?" She struck again, and Clare blocked. "Ha! Ha ha ha ha ha! So it looks like you aren't only a fast runner, you're also a fast draw!"

The renegade hanyoma visibly saw Ophelia's blade ripple as she attacked again, and chose to dodge out of the way rather than block it with a Quicksword. 'What was that? That rippling...'

"Oh? So you saw that? Hm. Impressive. I don't have a nickname that everybody knows, "Dark Alicia" or "Phantom Miria," that kind of thing, so I worked hard to get a lethal technique that would get me a name. Then I could get everyone to call me that." She began to vibrate her arm, making her claymore look like it was undulating like a snake. "This is called the 'rippling sword.' 'Rippling Ophelia...' Great name, don't you think?" But it's not too well-known yet, because most of the people who have seen it are dead."

Clare tensed and reached up to grasp the handle of Ryoushi's claymore, tugging it from the holster to give her an added boost of speed now that she didn't need to reach up, grab it, pull it out, and put it back. 'I need a flat space, one that isn't at the edge of a cliff, in case I have to do a wildcat.' The air screamed again, and she vanished, blurring away from the area, aiming for a clearing a couple hundred meters downstream and across the river; Ophelia leapt after her, pumping youki into her legs to keep up with Clare's effortless speed, but rather than face her head-on, Clare stopped suddenly and turned, unleashing a wildcat Quicksword the moment Ophelia was in range. It was not enough to kill her, not nearly enough, but it gave her plenty of time to escape.

She met Ryoushi and Irene on the way to their hiding place and barely managed to warn them about Ophelia and what had happened to Gonahl before she passed out.

* * *

The sun was shining brightly when she woke, streaming through the open window next to her bed, and she blinked for a moment in confusion before sitting up slowly and looking around. Ryoushi was sitting at their more-or-less communal meeting-and-eating table, a half-eaten apple in hand, and he looked up at her when he sensed her movement. "Ah, you're awake. We had to feed you youki suppressants while you were unconscious because someone could have tracked you. The disorientation should pass now that you're up."

"How long was I out?" Clare asked, slowly swinging her legs off of the edge of her bed and hesitantly stood up, taking steps to the table one at a time, pulling out her chair and sinking down into it.

"A week." He pushed the bowl of fruits towards her, unreadable brown eyes watching her as she picked a star fruit and took a bite, examining the yellow flesh of the fruit. "You were lucky you didn't accidentally Awaken, you were so exhausted."

His words reminded her. "There's something I need to tell you. When I went to Rabona Cathedral and fought the yoma there, I... went over my limits, but somehow, I was able to come back."

The Awakened One stared at her like she'd grown a second head. "Came... back? To normal?"

"Yes. I'm not the only one, too. One of the... organization's handlers approached me about assisting in an Awakened hunt, so I went - and met three other hanyoma who have gone over their limits and come back. We tested it briefly, and... so long as we don't go too far over our original limits, we should be able to return each time, provided we have a strong enough mental and physical constitution at the time."

"Sou ka..." Ryoushi sat back in his chair. "I had wondered about it; your youki... is different than before. Not so much so that Teresa could notice it if she was here, but... subtle things about it have changed. It is closer to mine that Irene's, per se."

"I knew there would be no hiding it from you; I swear you see everything." Clare sighed and lowered her head. "I can only stay long enough to completely suppress my youki; I have someone to look for."

"That scent - its owner?" Ryoushi cocked his head gently. "The one you had on you when we found you."

"Yes. A human boy named Raki. If you would keep an eye out for him..."

"Of course. I'll let the others know as they pass through." He paused, watching her eat, and took a bite of his apple. "Do you want them to know about your half-Awakening, too?"

"It would be best if they did, so that it doesn't come as a surprise later." Clare finished her star fruit and plucked an orange from the bowl on the table, rolling it back and forth between her hands. Bit by bit, she peeled it with her fingernails and ate it, sitting in a comfortable silence with the Awakened One, before she said, "The organization's Number Six, Miria - she thinks that they may know about us and are trying to kill us."

Ryoushi looked up at her. "Us as in this group, or us as in half-Awakened warriors?"

"Both. Based on what she told me about the time the male warriors were retired, I think it's possible that they purposely sent you on that mission, and then now, the organization had no clear gauge of my power because I was keeping my youki constantly suppressed. The other three warriors - Miria, Helen, and Deneve - were no match for the beast, and if it hadn't been for the fact that I was an unknown variable, we likely would have died."

"They're trying to kill us?"

"Aa. That's what appears to be the case. Everyone needs to be on their guard when they head out."

* * *

She left after three days, youki suppressants in her pockets for use as she approached towns; Ryoushi and Irene had agreed that if she wanted to find Raki alive, the sooner she set out, the better. They promised that they would keep their guard up and alert the others to the organization's intent when they returned, leaving her free to search for Raki.

However on her way through the forests around the mountain range, she encountered Ophelia, who had Awakened in their absence from each other' lives. Her body was long and snake-like, similar to her rippling sword ability, which was probably where she got that appearance. The former Number Four attacked her, truly well and determined to eat her guts, but Clare dodged every attack and returned with the Quicksword, making for a rather anticlimactic ending to their battle, as Ophelia may have been fast but not fast enough to dodge a wildcat Quicksword with her new physiology. The Number Four bequeathed her legacy to Clare, telling her to take down that "one-horned monster" in her place and that she would not be forgiven if she lost. The hanyoma wandered from town to town, searching for her human friend.

In the town of Intore, Ryoushi's former home and the place where she first met the Awakened One, she changed her gear into something that made her look more like a man, enabling her to be more stealthy about her search, and she checked on his shop while she was there. It was still boarded up, still dark as hell, the windows covered with dust and cobwebs from their years of abandonment. No one had broken in, so she left it alone, instead heading to the nearby town of Hanel. It was there that she found two children who had talked to Raki, giving her hope since he had passed through the area ten days before she arrived.

However, there was a dark spot on her stay; a group of claymores gathered there to hunt an Awakened One in the mountains of Zakol, and the single-digit in the group almost spotted her. She got the direction Raki had been going and was about to leave - when one of the warriors from the hunting party came back to Hanel, her body so severely wounded that it was a miracle she was still walking, still _alive_ even. Blood dripped from her gaping wounds as she staggered through the town gates, almost the whole left side of her body missing, and she gasped, "Someone... please... the organization... help my... comrades..." before collapsing. Clare blurred forward to catch her, not even thinking about the blood that splattered across her clothes.

"Hey!" she demanded, "Did an Awakened One do this? Hey!"

"Are... you a... comrade?" she whispered, dying in Clare's arms, "Please... save the others... they're still alive. The enemy... wants us alive... they're plotting something..." But then the warrior breathed her last and went limp, making Clare grit her teeth.

"I you would give the body a decent funeral," she said, rising to her feet and pulling at her hair tie, "I would truly be much obliged." She ignored the concerned cries of the villagers as her youki abilities came back, instead walking towards the mountain range as if she was simply going on a walk through the park. She could sense the mass of youki in the distance and headed straight for it. There were a few yoma waiting for her around the entrance to the place, but they were of no consequence. However, the fact that they were using strategies based on hanyomas' natural reactions did; when she jumped into the air to evade the remaining two on the ground, there were two flying yoma to attack her. They did not expect her to use a youkiless Quicksword to kill them all and finally get inside the ruins of the castle on the mountaintop.

Though she was not a true sensor-class hanyoma, she could sense a seemingly countless amount of distorted youki coming from all over the castle, and finally she found the source: hundreds, possibly thousands of poles with something akin to heartbeats, explaining how they felt like hundreds. Combat instinct suddenly surged forth, making her draw her blade to block the two poles the yoma threw at her to hide their approach, but the beasts were inferior to her in every way, the last one fleeing after the first three died at her sword. She followed it into the castle proper - only to watch it get crushed in the hand of an Awakened One that came up through the floor. "You ran," the male rumbled, "Can't have that."

The simply immense male heaved himself up through the floor, and Clare recognized him based on the description Ryoushi had given her. 'The former Number Three after Ryoushi's Awakening, Dauf. He became Riful's mate, which means that she can't be far.' She clenched a fist. 'I've walked right into a nest of snakes, haven't I?'

"Huh?" Dauf said, eyeing her, "What a strange outfit? You're a guy, aren't you? Blech. How boring. I guess I'll just find out after I strip you." He tried to move towards her, but the closeness of the hall prevented him from moving very far. Clare leapt forward and tried to slash his face several times, but his hide was too thick; she went for the eyes, the only unarmored part of his face, but he closed an eye on her blade, rendering her unable to yank it free before he slammed a hand down to try and crush her. She dodged, and Dauf laughed. "What's a swordsman to do if he gives up his sword? - Huh?" He made the mistake of opening his eye and dropping the sword, and Clare lunged forward to catch it. "It's a trap, baka," he growled.

"So was this." She spun around and unleashed a Quicksword on him - youkiless, but powerful none the less. However, it was just as Ryoushi said; even the Quicksword could not cut through Dauf's hide. The Awakened One complained of the pain her attack caused before firing a super-sized version of the earlier poles at her; she was unable to dodge in time, and the pole hit her in the stomach, sending her flying back and skidding against the stone. The second shot crushed her legs, making her cry out in pain and focus on healing her legs, but before she could do so, Dauf picked her up by her head and intended on getting back to stripping her when another warrior arrived.

"Well, well, well... And here I was so pleased with myself for finding you so quickly, but with things like this, what should my course of action be? Now that I've come all this way, I can't just leave empty-handed." Clare caught a clear glimpse of her symbol: Number Three Galatea.

'"Finding me so quickly?" She's been looking for me?' Clare was startled out of her thoughts when Dauf began to squeeze her head with the incredible force in his body, but Galatea simply looked at him and smiled disarmingly; Clare was still not a sensor-class but she still felt Galatea harmonize her youki with Dauf's and alter it a bit, getting his grip to slacken and release her. The organization's Number Three caught her as she fell and said, "You're lighter than you look; you need to eat more." To Dauf, "She's all I came for; I'll be going now." Galatea turned to leave, carrying Clare, and Dauf fired one of the projectiles at Galatea's retreating back, the organization's warrior making it deflect off course with ease. Even the multitude of smaller poles he fired at her missed their mark, and finally, to prevent her escape, he fired one of the large poles from his arm into the ceiling before her, collapsing the stone and cutting off her exit. "Hmm," she said, "I underestimated him. Perhaps he has a functioning brain after all."

"You're not goin' anywhere," the male said fiercely, "Nobody makes a fool out of me and gets away with it. I'm gonna strip ya naked, tear off your limbs, rip open your belly, and suck out your guts." He continued in the same vein for several minutes, but what was immediately apparent to Clare was that he was no match for Galatea unless he could find some way to overcome her technique, and he was not smart enough to do so on his own. The renegade warrior was set down on the stone from the ceiling and told to heal her legs, asked if she had been intending to commit suicide. That made Clare furrow her brow in confusion.

"There's one downstairs, far more powerful than this one. Even if you're not sensor-class, align your yoma energy with hers at the correct location, and even the most poor youki sensor would be able to detect her." Galatea turned back to face Dauf just in time to watch as a score of the posts slammed into the stone beneath her feet. The Awakened male lifted both of his hands, wrapping one around the other's fist, and slammed them both down, but the Number Three was able to change the path of that, too; the now-open hands thudded to the ground around her, and though Dauf laughed, thinking her destroyed, she was far from it. "It seems that you forget everything as soon as you hear it; it must be nice to have a brain that regenerates."

The beast snapped his hands closed, forcing the hanyoma to jump or be crushed, and she landed behind him, having made numerous attempts at slicing open his flesh during her descent. "I see. So a regular attack won't pierce that hide." When Dauf spun and tried to reach out and grab her, she aligned herself with him again and made his hand plunge into the ground next to her, enabling her to plunge her claymore into one of the weak spots in his armor, earning a spurt of violet blood. "I thought so. Even armor that tough has to have its weak points." She leapt up his arm and slashed open the flesh between the thick plates, but while she was still in the air, Dauf tried to punch her and failed when Galatea synced his hand open and plunged her claymore into the center of his palm. "Looks like the one who's going to be taking the hands and feet is me." Number Three slashed off Dauf's right hand in a single, seemingly effortless swipe, the massive appendage hitting the ground with and immense thud.

Dauf wept over the stump of his arm as blood spurted everywhere, making Galatea say, "Don't cry; it makes you look even uglier." Then she tensed at the same time that Clare did.

"So stupid. He really is a fool. That's why I don't think I'll even be able to take much pride in him as my man." A slip of a girl, looking barely more than eleven, maybe twelve years old, was sitting atop a pile of rocks behind Clare, having appeared there moments before. She looked innocent enough, but now the renegade warrior had a proper face to put to the name and description given to her in conjunction with Dauf's. 'Riful of the West,' Clare thought, examining the black-haired, brown-eyed child with the kind of wariness one would use when eyeing a forest fire. "Excuse me, Dauf, but what _are_ you doing?" Riful asked the male Awakened One, "Only one opponent, and you've already lost a hand."

"B-b-b-but my punches weren't hitting her..." the male sobbed.

"How can you not land your punches? What are you, stupid?"

"It's true-!"

Riful sighed in exasperation. "Fine. I'll tell you how to land your punches for sure. Use all your strength, and hit her with all you've got."

"But I've been doing that this whole time..."

"Just do it again. Miss, and I'm dumping you," Riful said firmly.

"Th-that's harsh..." Dauf pulled back his fist and began pumping youki into his arm, and Clare knew then that Galatea was going to have to dodge or die. She was right; the Number Three leapt out of the way right before Dauf's fist slammed into the ground where she had been standing, and he made another strike, attempting to crush her into a wall, but failed again when she dodged. He fired countless small poles from his mouth, forcing the warrior to block them with her blade, and Clare cried her name in warning.

"There," Riful said, "If you'd done it that way from the start, you wouldn't have lost your hand." When Clare looked up at her, she explained, "Your friend's specialty is reading through youki and discriminating down to the smallest part; with this, she can manipulate them. I wouldn't go so far as to say control, because she can't stop the action itself, only change its course where her opponent's awareness is weak. It's even more impossible when her opponent is stronger than herself, unless she misleads them into doubting their strike will hit."

Again, the male fired the posts from his mouth, but this time, Galatea was able to close his mouth and lunge forward for an attack. Dauf punched her out of the way and fired one of the large posts at her, slamming her in the abdomen and making her cry out in pain and cough up some blood. "Got you now!" Dauf shouted, "Where should I aim for next?"

"It's over, isn't it?" Riful asked rhetorically, when Clare flared her youki up just past her limits, healing her legs at high speed; from the surprised looks on both Galatea's and Riful's faces, they had believed her to be weaker than she actually was because of her youki's mostly-suppressed state, and just as Dauf fired and Galatea's head, Clare blurred through faster than even Riful's eyes could track and yanked the Number Three out of the way literally half a second before the post slammed into the place where her head had been. The hanyoma pulled them to an almost instant stop beyond Dauf, already trying to force her youki back under control, nails extending into claws, muscles bulging with energy, and she knew she was beyond her already-extended limit. She reached down and picked up Ryoushi's claymore, lifting it to her neck - right before a powerful force helped her bring her youki back under control.

"I... can't believe it. I thought you were trying to bring yourself back after crossing your limits, but to think that it could actually be done..." Clare turned to look at Galatea. "I had convinced myself that it was only my imagination playing tricks when I felt it back in the mountains." She sat up. "I tried pulling back this way as a test; if it failed, I was going to take you head. No wonder the organization is determined to capture and investigate you. What exactly... are you?"

"Hey, what gives?" Riful protested from across the chamber, "And here I thought she was going to Awaken! A high-numbered warrior who controls youki and a mysterious renegade who can turn back after crossing her limits... I'll let both of you join my group."

"What... is she?" Clare asked softly, "I've only felt a youki that strong and ominous once before in my life."

Number Three was silent for a moment, then said, "If you've felt that once and lived, you're lucky. If I make it out of here alive, I'll brag about it to our comrades. As for your question... in the history of the warriors called 'Claymores,' there have only been three terrible instances of a true Number One becoming Awakened, even though the Number Two 'Ryoushi the Hunter' could arguably be included in that, for he and the male Number One who Awakened, Isley of the North, were constantly switching Numbers because they had the same amount of power. Regardless, there was one during the period where males were produced and two during the females-only era; at one point, the organization itself almost fell. All three dispersed in different directions, Isley to the north, Riful to the west, Luciela to the south, and Ryoushi to parts unknown." Riful grinned at this; she had met Ryoushi briefly in her territory, and so far as she knew, he was still hiding somewhere within her borders, not that she could find him. Galatea noticed and paused for a moment before continuing, "Ever since their Awakenings, all three have never appeared have never appeared openly and came to be known as the 'Creatures of the Abyss.' If they had stayed slumbering quietly in the depths, that would have been good, but recently, all of the Abyssal Ones - save Ryoushi, whose location is, again, unknown - have been gathering yoma and Awakened Ones like armies for war.

"So if you would be so kind as to answer... what exactly are you trying to do, Creature of the Abyss, Riful of the West?"

Riful smiled deceivingly. "You're quite well-informed for one so young, but it's not that we avoided contact with one another, just that we didn't end up in the same place. To be perfectly honest, it was rather boring until that Awakened One appeared in the north, tearing around and doing as she pleased, but of course, Isley couldn't have that; he beat her down with all his might but took a liking to her and made her his woman. Almost immediately after that, Isley began expanding his territory as if he was deliberately trying to provoke Luciela and I. So I started gathering followers, too, but right now, we don't have nearly enough for battle strength."

"And you want us to join you?"

"Oh, yes. I know that Ryoushi is in my territory somewhere, and if I get you to Awaken," she looked over to Clare, "maybe he'll come and join me, because you're obviously friends."

It was Riful's words that made Galatea take a second glance at the symbol on Clare's blade, and she gasped quietly when she realized that it did indeed belong to Ryoushi the Hunter. 'If Riful gets this warrior to Awaken and then Ryoushi to join her, she might have enough power to take down Isley _and _the organization. Since she knows where Ryoushi is,' Number Three thought, looking at Clare, 'she can warn him about Riful's intent and get him out of the western lands before Riful finds him.' "But to do that... we need to take down this big clod; provided that the Creature of the Abyss does not intend to fight, we still have a chance at escape. However, we still need the strength of another, one with the power to pierce this beast's tough hide. Number Nine, Jean; we need to get her from below, but she's in an extremely unstable condition. She might Awaken at any moment, and knowing her, she'd choose death over Awakening; she must be in a situation that prevents her from ending her own life." She reached up and pulled her sword from its sheath, saying, "I'll take care of this one. You head over and rescue Jean, but if it's too late... you'll have to destroy her. Go! We don't have much time!"

The air screamed around her as Clare turned and vanished back the way Dauf had come, surprising all three of the others with the speed at which she could move even without youki, and Galatea recovered first, using the distraction to begin her attack on Dauf. Clare continued deep into the castle, following the male's trail of destruction all the way to the room - where the physically-Awakened Jean was manacled to the ceiling, gasping for breath as she fought the power of her own body. The moment she spotted Clare, she managed to force out, "Please... Kill..me..."

That made Clare gasp softly. 'She's gained enough power to rip off the shackles, but she's suppressing her Awakened abilities with all her might! If her will is that strong, then perhaps...' She leapt up and wrapped her arms around Jean's neck, demanding, "Come back! You can do it!"

"What... are you saying? Once... the limit is crossed... there's no way-"

"Yes, there is! I came back after crossing my limits, and you can, too, Jean-san! No matter what, until you completely lose yourself, the chances of returning - no matter how slim - are _not zero_!"

Jean's youki was beginning to slide from her control, running rampant, and because of the fact that she was not sensor-class, Clare was forced to put a lot more of her youki into syncing with Jean and pulling her back, the room going white as all of her built-up youki exploded out of her control.

But they did it; Clare successfully returned Jean to normal and covered her with her cloak to hide the other's nakedness, quietly saying, "You did it. You half-Awakened, and for the moment, you'll remain human." She looked down to meet the other's eyes. "I apologize for asking you to fight so suddenly after such a traumatic event, but Galatea needs our help up above, fighting the armored male."

"My name is Jean," she said, fastening the cloak to keep it shut, "I would be glad to help you."

"Clare," she nodded, "Glad to have you." Jean followed her up and broke through the stone floor when they realized that the fight between Dauf and Galatea had collapsed the opening Dauf used to exit the hall where Jean had Awakened.

Clare immediately looked the Number Three over, who responded to her unspoken query; "I've been better, but I'll heal fast." She tugged the pole that had pierced her abdomen out, permitting her body to begin healing.

"What should I do?" Jean asked the others, "You saved my life. I'd be glad to hold him off while you escape. I can't forget the comrades I didn't protect... I want to retaliate with everything I've got."

Galatea closed her eyes and sighed in exasperation. "These aren't the kind of opponents that you'll be able to hold off on your own. Clare and I will pin this big oaf; you thrust your broadsword into the base of his throat. Among all of the warriors, you've got the fastest, strongest thrust; you're perfect for the test. Clare, can you take the arm with the missing hand?"

"Certainly."

"Then let's go."

Both warriors tore forward, and Clare noticed that Dauf's wound was not yet healed and so began to focus her attack on the lower end of his arm, trying to hold an advantage by making it look as if she was unable to control the way the Quicksword went; Galatea was able to use something similar to split open the weak spots in his armor. All the while, Jean was twisting up her right arm in preparation for her attack on Riful's mate.

With both her and Clare attacking Dauf, Galatea's technique worked again, and she used it to great effect, as Dauf couldn't only focus on her; that would give Clare an opening that she wouldn't refuse. The moment Jean had her arm fully wound up, the other two warriors used their abilities to force his hands away, and Jean leapt towards the male. Dauf proved too strong for them, slamming them together in front of him, and the Number Nine was forced to let loose her attack, shredding apart his hand. The beast cried out and used the stump of his arm to slap her away, the hanyoma impacting against the ground and crying out in pain.

"It looks like we won," Riful said, "That was fascinating, the best show I've seen in years. Friendship is so important, so wonderful; I want friends just like them." When Dauf continued to cry about his hand, she told him to be quiet so she could enjoy the moment, bitching about his incredibly slow regeneration. "Now all we have to do is get them to Awaken-?"

Clare had regained her feet and ignored Riful's pleas, instead asking, "Jean, are you still alive?"

She gasped quietly. "Yeah, for the moment. Sorry I wasn't more useful."

"No, it was my mistake," Clare panted, "It should have gone according to plan. I hate to ask it, but can you do that move one last time?"

Jean looked surprised, then smiled slightly. "It's not something I can do forever, but I think I could manage that."

"I feel bad about having to invoke your promise from before, but I need you to lend me your life. I will clear the way; you stick your claymore in that thing's throat."

Jean's smiled widened. "From the beginning, that was my intent."

Clare heard Riful comment about not killing them, but she was already moving, blurring forward to split open Dauf's wounds before vanishing again when the male screamed and tried to slap her away. She used the Quicksword on his face as she passed, again to reopen the wound Galatea inflicted on the side of his face, and cut the other side to match, then began attacking the joints where the armor was the thinnest in order for Dauf to retain a free range of motion. She successfully cut him open in many places but made it seem as if she couldn't control the Quicksword again.

Riful noticed. "Hmm. For everything that's against her, she's doing rather well. Usng the narrowness of the space to keep him from focusing an attack and going at him from multiple angles... smart. However, it's like her sword arm is the one in control and is tugging the rest of her body along behind it. It's very inefficient," Clare heard as she passed, remembering Ryoushi saying the same thng to both her and Irene years ago, "and clearly relies upon a surplus of youki as the source. It would be very much a problem if a comrade got within range."

The renegade hanyoma was distracted for a moment by the fact that Jean had successfully wound up her arm, and Dauf used that moment of distraction to slap her to the ground and fire some of the poles at Jean. Clare was able to move in time to protect the single-digit warrior and said, "Trust me, Jean. Pierce right though him; I'll do the rest. And Riful-san, you're wrong about the Quicksword. Let's go!"

Number Nine took that as her signal and leapt at Dauf, Clare right behind her, focusing her youki and narrowing her concentration to only Dauf's youki and the vague way she could feel it flowing through him. Her limited senses were enough; with a sound not unlike the ever increasing vibrating of a tuning fork, Clare unleashed the Quicksword solely on Riful's mate, completely avoiding Jean. As far as the hanyoma was concerned in that moment, neither she nor Galatea were even there, but Clare opened her eyes in time to see Jean pierce Dauf's throat and prepare to take his head - right before Riful interfered, long green-black tentacles wrapped up around the other half-yoma warrior, slamming her to the ground.

Riful whispered, "I'm sorry. I wish I could let you enjoy a moment of victory, but... for better or worse, that is my man." And then the one who seemed to be a young girl erupted in a storm of green-black tentacles, the castle collapsing around them as Riful reverted to her Awakened form. "Ah... I wanted to end it before it came to this," she murmured from above them, "I hate having to show my hand, reveal my full powers." Dauf coughed in her grip, stuggling to breath with his throat cut to shreds by Jean's drill sword, and she said, "Sorry, Dauf, I forgot about you, but I can't very well have you dying on me, now can I? You're the only one who can hold me off without breaking, you know?" She dropped Jean in front of Galatea and Clare. "I give her back, as a reward for beating Dauf. Besides, the two of you already have one foot on this side of Awakening; it would be so much better to let you get stronger and then Awaken you. All of that potential... it would be so wasteful for you to join Isley; he would not see in you what I see or be as kind. So, until next we meet..."

And then she vanished into the sky.

All three marveled at Riful's speedy getaway before Galatea said, "Now... to my original business. Renegade Clare, I have been ordered to bring you to the organization, alive if possible, dead if not. Will you come peacefully?"

"I have no intention of ever going to that place of my own free will. I have certain matters of greater importance that take precedence, anyway."

"You mean warning Ryoushi the Hunter about the intentions of Riful of the West." Galatea sighed. "So dead, is it?"

It was then that Jean stepped forward, moving between Clare and Galatea, and the latter said, "What are you doing, Jean?"

"Clare salvaged my life. I have already decided that this life is hers to use." Her resolve shone in her eyes; she would not back down or be cowed from her place.

"That is betraying the organization; do you intend to die as well?"

"A life that has been lost once only lacks a funeral. I don't plan on living very long, anyway."

"Hmph." The Number Three sighed - and turned away. "Warriors like you against a Creature of the Abyss... there was no way you could have survived; Riful of the West must have torn your corpses to shreds, and I guess I didn't feel like looking for pieces the size of fingernails." When both Clare and Jean thanked her, she said, "My ears don't hear the thanks of the dead, but the next time we meet, who knows whether we shall be friends or enemies? Just try to stay alive until then."

* * *

When Galatea returned to the camp well outside of the mountains and town at its base, she was not surprised that the apprentice she had taken on was still awake. The trainee called Kinatia simply looked up at her, eyes speaking for her; she had sensed what Galatea had done - letting the other warriors go, even at the almost impossible distance the camp was at from the battlefield - and made clear her intent to say nothing so long as Galatea herself said nothing. The Number Three nodded to her apprentice and shoved her claymore into the ground, settling in for the night.


	6. Five: Craving Flesh and Blood

A/N: Happy ChrismaHannuKwanzIca!

* * *

Five: Craving Flesh and Blood

The sun was so warm as it beat down upon the valley that had become their home, heating the earth beneath his feet and the skin he exposed as her tilted his head up towards the sky. It was a beautiful day, nay, a wonderful one, but as usual, Teresa and Irene had to spend it sparring, disturbing the silence of their valley with the near-constant ringing of metal on metal as their swords met with speed the human eye could not track. It was a common occurrence, one that made him sigh in exasperation like that of a parent at one of his children's antics. It reminded hm so much of the way he and Isley been back when they were trainees...

* * *

It had become immediately apparent that both Ryoushi and Isley both had the same level of strength, power, and speed, but Ryoushi had the advantage through his sensing, compared to Isley's almost disgusting flexibility and the ability to dislocate his limbs and twist them in impossible fashions. It enabled him to avoid attacks by simply bending or morphing his body out of the way, while Ryoushi would simply step out of the way and return an attack. The sensor was the only one who was truly a challenge for Isley, as everyone else was unable to stop themselves from being utterly revolted by him, even the handlers; Ryoushi just blinked and asked, "Is that all? Geez, and here I thought everyone was freaking out over something huge."

It was for this reason that Isley approached him. "Hey, Ryoushi, you up for a spar today?"

The sensor looked up from the book that he had stolen from the elders' library, guiltily slipping it under his mattress before Isley saw and standing up, saying, "Certainly. Did you hear that Furugata got certified?" He plucked his favorite practice blade from the rack in one corner of the sparring grounds and hefted it, giving it a few quick swings to make sure that it was still the way he wanted it.

"No way, seriously? I thought that she would never leave the trainee barracks; she absolutely sucked at sensing youki. How long was she there?" The other male picked up his blade and popped his right shoulder out of his socket, using youki and pure muscle to snap his arm around behind him and attempt a stab as if he was facing forward.

"I've heard upwards of five years. She was there when I was first brought here, which makes it at least two years." Ryoushi expertly blocked Isley's attack and returned with one of his own; the future Number One dropped below the swipe and crab-sprinted away, limbs twisted so that he was moving the way normal people would on their hands and knees.

"You know, that's what I don't get about you, Ryoushi-kun. You're a sensor-class half-yoma, so why don't they just certify you already? That's the only requirement the organization has for hanyoma being sent out into the field, right?" Isley sprang back to his feet and dodged just in time, evading the other's downward slash.

"Requirements are different for 'sensor-class' warriors, as you put it. More than a few of us are put to work teaching the rest of our generation to sense youki, and that just so happens to be my fate right now. Or, at least until Roulden is up to snuff." Ryoushi performed an elegant spin to evade Isley's attack and used the centripetal force to swing out into a strike.

"Isn't he the worst in our class?" Isley blocked and went for a straightforward stab, trusting that Ryoushi would jump back.

He did, and Isley plunged the sword into the floor of the practice arena, effectively flipping over it and yanking the blade out of the ground, using the momentum to put a fair amount of power behind the continued attack, which Ryoushi, again, dodged. "He is, at least at youki sensing, but he's nowhere near as bad as Furugata, which is why I pitied Suerte so much after I heard she failed the sixth time, and all the more the tenth. I'm surprised the elders didn't simply order her killed and Suerte certified."

"Oh?"

"Yeah." Ryoushi was briefly interrupted when their blades met with a clang that rattled their teeth. "The best sensor of a generation has to stay back and train the hanyoma that fail, even if it's just one. The failures have to wait six months before they can make their next attempt."

"Ah, so that's where the five years came from."

"Mmhmm." Ryoushi kicked Isley full on in the chest when the other charged him, and the future Number One pointedly relaxed his body to lessen the damage on impact with the wall just a few short meters away. He promptly flipped back into an upright position, and the pair continued to spar, gossipping like old women, until a gruff voice intruded on their conversation.

"You two, of all people, know that there's no sparring with practice blades allowed unless a handler is supervising."

"Oh, come on, Rigaldo," Isley said, jogging over and slapping the other hanyoma on the back with enough force to make him wobble slightly, "Lighten up! The world isn't all about rules. Besides," He waved a hand in a general gesture to the space around them and the sparring room, "since when are the handlers _not_ watching?"

Rigaldo hmphed. "Still, you shouldn't be saying things about everyone like that. I've heard rumors about things that have happened about half-yoma who gossipped too much."

"Aw, is the wittle Wion Cub concerned?" Isley purposely exaggerated his pout, Ryoushi chuckling quietly in the background.

"That the elders might kill you before I get the chance to kick your ass? Yes." With that, Rigaldo strode from the room before he lost control of his temper, leaving the two males behind, who were giggling in a very emasculating manner, not that they cared.

"He's so easy to rile, so much easier than Dauf. Ten beras says he Awakens first," Ryoushi said, turning to put up his practice blade as Isley did the same.

"You're on," the other said, holding out his hand for the sensor to shake, making the bet official.

Unfortunately for Ryoushi, Roulden failed the certification test and apologized over and over to him until he said, "Don't worry about it. I have absolute confidence that you'll pass next time." He trained the other as hard as he dared to get him up to at least certification requirement, and ten days before the next exam opportunity, Ryoushi beat Roulden at their game of cat-and-mouse yet again when he received some visitors at a little past midday. The other hanyoma had vastly improved at detecting youki, so Ryoushi gave him the rest of the day off from training, turning to greet his visitors, Numbers One and Four, Isley and Vladimir.

"Some congratulations are in order, I believe; I hear you made Number One," he said as he shook Isley's hand, then turned to Vladimir, "And it's good to see you, as always, Vlad-kun. How is Instantaneous Acceleration treating you?"

"Thanks to you, it's a vast improvement over what I had before; I'm forever in your debt."

"You can thank me by slaying a bunch of yoma," Ryoushi laughed. "So what brings you two back to headquarters?"

Isley sighed. "Nothing good. Greit Awakened and killed his squad, though they managed to take his life, too."

"Greit? The Number Two? How did that happen?"

"We're not entirely sure. Vlad and I met up on the road and found their remains, so we decided to come back to HQ and report it. Maybe if Roulden is quick, you can steal the Number Two slot before Rigaldo gets to it; he's Number Three right now."

"Perhaps. Once he's certified, Roulden has enough power to be Number Three, so maybe he could be bumped all the way down to Number Four - sorry, Vlad."

"Think nothing of it," the other hanyoma said, laughing, "I've got no attachment to my number; if Rigaldo ends up bumping me down, more power to him."

They chatted amongst themselves for a while before the two single-digits excuse themselves to report to the elders. Roulden did wind up certifying the second time around, and it was exactly as they had predicted; Rigaldo and Vladimir were dropped to Numbers Four and Five, Ryoushi and Roulden making Two and Three respectively, but as Ryoushi and Isley had the same amount of skill and power, the elders were at a bit of a loss to determine who would be which number at what time. Eventually, Ryoushi's handler, Rubel, came up with the solution: their ranks would be determined by their numbers of confirmed kills. It became sort of a game to the two of them, to see who could get the most yoma kills in the shortest amount of time, and they were flip-flopping constantly, laughing about it the whole time.

About seven months after Roulden was certified, Vladimir Awakened on accident, and both Ryoushi and Isley were close enough to help his team slay him, letting Dauf move up to take his number. It was a sobering moment for both the Number One and Number Two, and after that, they stopped laughing and joking as much, barely saw one another because they were almost constantly on the road. Isley became known as the Silver King; he became so cold and so distant that it seemed as if his hair and eyes glittered like ice and silver from Alphons, where both he and Ryoushi were born. Ryoushi took the title 'The Hunter' for his tracking and sensing abilities, and the name was astonishingly redundant, as the name "Ryoushi" already meant hunter, but every once and a while, that ridiculous redundancy would pull a slight smile out of him when nothing else could.

And then Ryoushi and his squad were dispatched to Alphons, where not two, as thought by the organization, but _twenty_ yoma had banded together and slain a weaker squad that had come after them, which was when his fateful Awakening had occurred. He had saved the life of the Number Thirty-Eight, Dacien, by taking him out of the northern lands and heard that Roulden died fighting Dauf when the former Awakened, and Rigaldo took his Number Two slot, not that he had ever cared about ranks or titles. As far as the organization was concerned, he was just another yoma, and their technique of squads of males roaming around was working perfectly - until there was a string of three male Awakenings in the same week. Though to this day Ryoushi claimed noninvolvement, the organization blamed the happening on him and began slowly decommissioning the male warriors, as they were clearly dying/Awakening faster than the females produced during that time period.

The former Number Two headed north, to Alphons, where he heard Isley had settled, and while they had a great time catching up, their friendly dynamic had disappeared with their Awakenings; there was just too much competitive instinct crammed into too little space, and so Ryoushi "conceded defeat" (even though there never was a fight) and left the northern lands without bloodshed, evading Rigaldo as he headed in that direction. He returned to the warmth and color of the south, and there he remained, living in secret, until his equally fateful meeting with one trainee who would come to be known as Teresa of the Faint Smile...

* * *

"Ouch!"

Ryoushi let a single eye slid open, glancing at the sparring hanyoma; Irene had slammed into a tree on accident, much to Teresa's amusement, and they both called it quits finally, heading downstream to wash and leaving him in peace. Utterly silent, he reached up and tugged a chain out of his shirt, examining the tiny symbols carved into the metal piece. He knew and remembered every single comrade he'd seen Awaken and/or die before him and engraved them from memory onto the steel so that he would always carry the souls of the fallen with him, so that he would never forget like so many others did.

He rubbed the piece of steel between his fingers, the calluses on the pads preventing him from feeling all of the little intricacies of the symbols, but he knew them just the same. 'Vladimir, Greit, Artemis, Dacien, Furugata, Krishta, Nathis, Reton, Domovoi...' The Awakened One reflexively went through the names of the fallen one by one, saying a soft prayer for their souls even though in almost all of the cases, it had been over eighty-five years since they died. He had just finished with the list when a youki he didn't recognize and another that he did appeared at the edge of his range, making him tilt his head in confusion. 'Isn't it a little early for Clare to be coming back to the valley?' Her youki and the unknown youki stopped suddenly, and there appeared to be a brief conversation between her and the owner of the unknown youki before something else interfered: a youki so small it might as well have been nonexistent, and he kept sensing it and losing it, then finding it again and losing it because of the distances involved.

Finally, Clare's youki and the unknown youki with her turned and began heading north after several tense moments, making him furrow his brow in confusion; she was so close to home, what news could this flickering youki bring that would make her abandon her original purpose? Ryoushi frowned suddenly. 'Hmm.'

He went hunting the next day, intending on fortifying himself before heading out to follow Clare. Teresa, Irene, Noel, and Sophia were right behind him, giving him some time to himself while he chased down the leader of a slave ring that had come to stay in their town, searching for new women to sell to brothels. However, just as he finished eating, a low youki appeared at the edge of his range, not the one with Clare, but another foreign one; it was heading for the town at a slow clip, perhaps she had not sensed him yet, if at all. Some of the sensors close to Teresa's caliber could detect him, if only faintly, though he was not quite sure if this was one of those; of course, that made it necessary to test her. He slipped out of the town and began walking away from the outskirts - and the youki moved to follow. "Shit." Immediately he picked up speed, and the youki flared as the claymore tried to keep up - and then he found himself stumbling over nothing, the youki in his feet having changed flow. "Double shit."

The youki was closer now, and he turned to face her as she arrived at where he was hiding, shocked to find that she had no symbol; why in all the blazes did they send a trainee after him? He effortlessly dodged her strike, despite her attempt at youki manipulation. He was so much stronger than she was, and he could see by the expression on her face that she realized it, too. Teresa abruptly materialized above them, but the trainee dodged out of the way when the former Number One split a small canyon in the forest floor to protect her Awakened sensei, and she was next to him almost immediately. "Are you alright, Ryoushi?"

All color in the trainee's face drained away, making it absolutely clear that she knew who both of them were, and a moment later, a full warrior appeared behind her, Noel and Sophia dropping in behind them with Irene in the lead. There was a long stalemate, warriors staring at one another, each waiting for the other to make the first move, until a voice that the Awakened One immediately recognized curled through the silence.

"My, my," the male voice said in a slightly patronizing manner, "Still creating as much of a stir as ever, Ryoushi." Rubel stepped from the shadows, touching his hat in a mockery of respect, and the hunter's suddenly clawed hands curled in the soil beneath him, eyes blazing with golden fire as his youki slipped from his fine-turned control, exploding out of him and making all of the hanyoma flinch. However, it was not Teresa's hands on his shoulders that brought him back to himself, but the terrified eyes of the trainee across the clearing, her face so white she seemed about to faint. His youki was making her weak, he could see, she looked close to collapsing under his oppressive power, and he averted his golden eyes, forcing his youki back under control and hating the power that made him a monster in other's eyes.

Teresa and the other hanyoma relaxed behind him as he forced his youki back into virtual nonexistence, and Rubel smirked. "It's good to see you're still alive, Ryoushi," he said tilting his head slightly towards the Awakened One, and the monster snarled a curse at him, getting to his feet and taking a threatening step towards him, but the organization's warriors moved in between him and the handler, drawing their claymores and leveling them at the monster and the other half-yoma warriors behind him. "Oh, what a mouth. I'm not sure I want to deliver my message, if that's how it's going to be."

"Then give it to me and get lost."

The Awakened One did not expect what he received: his old claymore, the one that he had given to Clare for use against yoma. "...what did you do to Clare?" All of the hanyoma tensed, hands reaching for their blades, teeth gritting as they awaited Rubel's answer.

"Nothing," the handler answered, surprisingly honest, "I offered her just what I offer you: permanent amnesty. You'll never be hunted by the organization, no matter what you do. You'll be left in peace for the rest of your lives."

It was a severely tempting offer; all of them had been hunted by their own at some point in the past when they had been spotted, and it was always painful to have to run from the people who should have been their allies against the yoma. "Clare accepted my offer, and we gave her her own sword, so that you can have yours back." He tossed the weapon to Ryoushi, who caught the blade by its handle, pulled out the stopper at the end of the sword and tugged out the black card still within and the note that Clare had left.

It read: "Everyone, I've decided take the organization's offer, and I ask that you do the same. It will be so much easier for us to move if we are not hunted by the organization, and Rubel has told me that so long as Ryoushi-kun keeps to his 'diet' of criminals, he need never fear for his life again; the organization will leave him alone for as long as he lives. If you accept, I will await you in the northern lands. Clare."

Ryoushi looked up at his former handler, eyes narrowed. "Northern lands? You intend to take on the Northern Army and Isley?"

"We don't have much of a choice," was Rubel's reply, "If the army leaves Alphons unchallenged, there would be an unbelievable amount of human casualties. We can't risk it."

"Are we it? All that you're sending?"

"No, twenty-four other warriors are going."

There was a brief moment where the hanyoma conferred and told the hanyoma their decision. "Very well," Ryoushi said finally, "We will go north, even though I have no quarrel with the Silver King."

"Excellent. Kinatia will be going with you."

"WHAT?" All color drained from the girl's face even as the other hanyoma - Galatea included - began protesting that she was too young, her training was not complete, she was not even certified. All the while, Ryoushi padded over to the girl and looked down at her with warm brown eyes, the hanyoma having sunk to her knees when she heard the news; she met his gaze fearfully before he reached down and gently gripped her upper arms, pulling her to her feet before tugging her into a hug. It was both a comfort and a moment of shared vulnerability; if he chose, he could shred her to bits then and there, and if she chose, she could take his head with the claymore she still held. After a brief tense moment, she relaxed, reached up and slid her sword back into its holster, and returned the embrace, now shivering faintly.

The hanyoma left for the far north barely an hour later, Kinatia added to their group.


	7. Six: War in the North

A/N: Sorry for the lateness; I've been feeling kind of lazy-ish and not really inspired to write lately. Short chapter, too.

* * *

Six: War in the North

* * *

Ryoushi sensed Clare's youki from miles away, indicating that she was not even trying to hide her aura, and she was in close proximity to four other youki, including the youki he felt with her when she was approached by Rubel, and he automatically adjusted his path to head in her direction, padding over the snow, the other hanyoma trailing behind him. The hanyoma turned to gaze in their general direction as they approached the cave where Clare had gathered with the other hanyoma, leaving Kinatia to head inside and present Miria with the letter from elder Rimuto. While that was going on, Clare stepped outside, and as one, the renegades drew their swords and crossed them in the center of the group, a silent promise and greeting all at one. Teresa immediately began questioning Clare about the organization's battle plans, Irene and the others listening avidly, but a gasp from in the cave where the other warriors remained made them pause.

"Ryoushi? The First Escapee? Ryoushi the Hunter? The organization sent _him_ to help us?" a disbelieving female voice said inside, and a moment later, its owner emerged from the cave to eye the Awakened One warily, her claymore drawn. One by one, the other half-yoma emerged into the snow, swords at the ready if the need arose, but Ryoushi simply looked them over, assessing their strengths and weaknesses based on their youki and their physical appearances. Finally, he looked to the hanyoma with the jaggedly cut hair, Kinatia slightly behind her, and said, "Gen'ei no Miria, I presume."

"Correct. Ryoushi the Hunter."

"Aa. What's our status?"

"Twenty-four warriors, not including you all and Clare. So long as Isley does not show, at least a few of us should live."

"Somehow I doubt it. Isley's joining up with these other Awakened Ones is purely out of convenience and similar intent; more than likely he'll just head south by another road and leave them to die at our hands." He paused for a moment, then asked, "What are the chances of success, Phantom Miria?"

Miria sighed heavily. "The chances of success are zero." The new arrivals inhaled sharply and turned to look at the young warrior, Ryoushi watching her with grave eyes. "Let me rephrase that; the chances of absolute success are zero. Now that you all are here, we have a better chance than before, but I sorely doubt that anyone other that Ryoushi-san could take on Isley if he appeared; he would tear us to shreds. We have better chances against the other Awakened Ones now that you're here, but regardless, hanyoma are going to die."

Ryoushi looked away from their small gathering, sensing the scouting party approaching Pieta from the north, and he "watched" them converse briefly before on of the Awakened One's youki began to surge. "Here they come."

Teresa's head snapped around while the organization's hanyoma gathered their gear in a hurry; the three Awakened Ones were just at the very edge of her range. "Just three?" She asked quietly.

"Yes, a scouting party, probably. The bulk of the army is some miles behind them and stationary for the moment. Miria-san," he called over his shoulder to the hanyoma, "do you want us to come with you back to Pieta, fight now, and explain later or hang back unless someone is about to die to give you time to explain later?"

"The second option, if you please," she replied as she raced by, one of the Awakened Beings reverting to his other form in the distance, and the hanyoma ran back towards the city, Miria arriving just in time to prevent the first Awakened One from killing and eating a human girl. The squads formed up and attacked the three Awakened Beings as the other two arrived in the city, dividing up to fight. The renegade warriors, Kinatia, and their Awakened companion padded towards the city at the pace of normal people, the three sensors keeping an eye on the battle taking place in the city beyond, especially considering that Clare had gone ahead and was fighting the Awakened One with youki manipulation...

* * *

...she unleashed a Quicksword on the roof of the building where the hanyoma had been driven to the ground by the power of the youki manipulator, shattering the surface and breaking the beast's concentration, freeing them and enabling the hanyoma to land under their own power, quickly dodging out of range. Flora used the Awakened One's distraction over her sudden burst of power to try to kill it, but the male expertly dodged and alighted atop part of the roof that had not collapsed, laughing. "Not bad, ladies," he said, youki rising, "Things are getting interesting. This is why **I just love being a monster!"** He dropped to the ground in front of them and snarled, **"I'll tear you all to pieces, every last one of you."**

It was then that Undine's squad arrived to help them, and the Awakened One launched an array of tentacle like quills at the hanyoma, four of ten failing to dodge the attack. Undine immediately shouted, "Everyone who didn't dodge that, fall back! You're in the way!" She leapt forward with Flora, saying, "Six out of ten members; think we're undermanned, Flora?"

"No," the other captain said after a moment, "Let's keep going."

The unknown Awakened One attacked with its bizarre quills again just as the Claymores began their own counterstrike, going straight for his neck in an attempt to decapitate him before he manipulated anyone else's youki. He leapt back out of range of the dual assault, but Undine lunged after him, yelling, "Don't let him get away!" momentarily forgetting his skills, and Flora reminded her too late.

"Undine-san, you can't just charge in without thinking things through!"

"**Heh! You simple-minded fool," **the beast growled right before it harmonized its youki with her.

'Huh?' Undine felt the uncontrolled change in flow, and suddenly her twin swords were crossed at her throat.

"**And now, slash your own throat!" **The turtle lashed the air with its tail, cackling at the twin spurts of blood that Undine's swords caused. Her teammates called her name in panic, but both Clare and Ryoushi detected a sudden increase in flow to Undine's arms.

"Is that the best you've got?" Number Eleven goaded when the Awakened One stopped laughing, "Yours is a pretty dumb technique if all you can do is cut my face."

'She changed the path of her swords by sheer muscle,' Clare realized even as their opponent said the same out loud. Undine lunged forward, shouting at the Awakened One to die, but it used its power to slam the taichou to the ground, telling her to sit awhile. She had no intention of obeying, however, and managed to force herself to her feet despite his power, beginning her attack again. Kinatia, who was hiding in the alley with Ryoushi and the other renegades, began surreptitiously manipulating the Awakened One's youki in ways that made it harder for him to use his own skill; it was almost like a detrimental form of acupuncture. At the same time, both sensors could feel that something was very wrong; Kinatia's work should not have been affecting him to the point that he could not use his power at all…

Flora ordered everyone forward to attack, but Deneve stopped them by holding out a hand. "Don't move," she said, "He's trying to trap us."

Undine's youki shifted and surged up to every Claymore's limit, and she stopped her attack to wrap her arms around herself in a futile attempt to stop the flow while the Awakened One mocked her. **"Being muscle bound is foolish because it takes you so long to figure things out. I can make youki surge just as easily as I can change its flow, and making hothead push past her limits is almost too easy."**

It was then that Clare nodded to Deneve, and they both lunged forward to assist Undine, even though she ordered them to stay back. "Gomen, taichou," Deneve said while Clare distracted the beast, "but I have to kick you."

She was being serious when she said that, Undine found as she slammed back against a pile of rubble, and Deneve joined Clare in fighting the monster just as it used its power to make their youki surge. **"Let's have you join us,"** it declared, but when the dust and snow kicked up by their youki cleared, the two were as normal as ever. **"Impossible! You should have crossed your limits!"**

"Perhaps you're seeing things," Deneve suggested, calm as ever, "You imagined it."

"Now it's time to finish this fight," Clare said firmly, and they lunged forward to attack.

Their teammates were just as surprised as the youki manipulator; they had not noticed Kinatia helping Clare and Deneve hasten their return to normal. The two claymores sped forward and began to cut away at his neck. His hide was incredibly tough, and their initial strikes did nothing more than irritate the beast into attempting to control them. Clare activated the "ace" she had up her sleeve and let the Quicksword run wild over his head and neck. Without a focused aim, he couldn't control the flow, making his skill useless in that situation. That didn't stop him from trying to kill them in other ways, however, as he launched his quills. Clare avoided the strikes completely, but as she leapt into the air, Deneve was pierced in two places on her sides. The Awakened One laughed until Deneve tore herself free and regenerated almost instantly.

"If you wanted to stop me," she said, utterly impassive, "you should have gone for my head." She dropped and brought her blade down on the back of his neck, using the force added by gravity to bite into the tough flesh, but her sword stopped short of cutting completely through. She gritted her teeth. 'I intended to take his head once he stopped, but it appears one cut isn't enough.'

And then a pair of crossed blades landed over her own with a ring of metal-on-metal, and Undine growled, grinning, "Could you not cut all the way through because of your injuries? Or because you're just weak to begin with?"

Deneve channeled youki into her arms as Undine did the same, saying, "Unlike some people, I prefer skill to power." With their combined strength, they were able to cut all the way through his neck and send his head flying off, propelled by the blood spraying from its wound. Even as they did so, Number Twenty-Two realized too late that "He can still manipulate our youki! Get away!"

He synchronized his youki with that of the two weakest members of their combined teams and caused the youki to surge, trying to make them Awaken and join him on the road to hell. He would have succeeded, had Flora and Clare not leapt in and used their respective high-speed attacks to slice apart his head and break the synchronization. It was a very near miss, but it was a miss just the same; Kinatia had been working on imposing a limit to the power they could release when the Awakened One finally died. Helen's team wandered over just then, having finished with their pill-bug like monster a short time ago. Deneve commented that Helen and her team looked at little banged up as they greeted one another before Clare burst out, "Miria? Where is Miria's team?"

"Clare, think for a moment," Deneve said, looking at Clare over her shoulder, "who you're worrying about."

Miria chopped off the head of the Awakened one her team had been fighting just in time for the new arrivals to see it happen, its body collapsing in a spray of blood next to its head. 'The things Miria has gone through, to escape and Awakened One without a scratch, must be incredible. I've gotten stronger since we last met,' Clare thought, 'but how much more powerful has she become?'


	8. Seven: Assault on Pieta

Seven: Assault on Pieta (Reunion)

* * *

Ryoushi sat on the roof of the cathedral in the center of town, hooded and cloaked, while the other five renegades and Kinatia were presented to the organization's warriors below; he was hidden in the shadow of the steeple, invisible in the darkness, youki undetectable, arms crossed over his chest. The warriors responded favorably to the presence of the former Numbers One through Four, taking heart at their presence and even giving them a subdued cheer.

In the distance, however, he could feel the youki of all of the Awakened Ones of the North, including Hakugin no Mono - the Silver King - Isley, and the Gin Gan no Shishio - the Silver-Eyed Lion King - Rigaldo. Isley was clearly not headed in their direction, going south by another path, instead. It was almost as if he was counting on his army being defeated by the organization's warriors. He cocked his head; there was another youki with Isley, one unmistakeably belonging to Priscilla, making him furrow his brow and narrow his eyes. Priscilla was infinitely stronger than the Creature of the Abyss, so what in all the hells was going on? It was clear that he had not won the fight against her; she was too strong to be killed by a lesser Awakened Being like him, so he must have humbled himself and gotten her to stop. But what then? What was all of this?

As the hanyoma split up to their ambush points, Kinatia leapt up and joined him on the roof of the cathedral, noting his expression. When she asked, he told her what he could sense and his deductions because of that, and she said, "Well, what if he's leading the army to get her something she wants?"

"That would fit with all of this," he conceded, "Building an army to invade the south...Hm. How goes the evacuation?"

"All of the civilians have left with the essentials; they're going for Toulouse. We're all set."

"It's only a matter of time, then." He tilted his head back towards the eternally cloudy sky; if it had not been for the yoma who attacked his family and the headman selling him to the organization, he would never even have seen the sun, staying in Alphons all his life. He leaned back against the stones, Kinatia doing the same and closing her eyes, and as she fell asleep, bit by bit, she slipped from her position until her head was resting on his shoulder, peacefully sleeping. Ryoushi blinked at her in shock for a moment, then smiled softly, carefully tugging off his cloak and pulling it over both of them, watching as the assault began. The half-yoma warriors were able to use the town's buildings and the snow to great effect, restricting the movement of the Awakened Ones while they darted around like mosquitoes, hurting where they could before sprinting on to the next target. At the same time, stirring up the snow on the ground provided very effective cover for them, and within the first ten minutes of the invasion, they had taken down five Awakened Ones and only lost three warriors.

Ryoushi blinked slowly and shifted his cloak entirely onto Kinatia, who was now awake and watching the battle, silently helping where she could be redirecting attacks. 'It should be happening soon. Rigaldo never did have much patience,' he thought, sensing the other Awakened One outside of the outskirts of town. The lion walked forward and dropped off of the cliff that he'd been standing on, moving forward to join the attack, and Ryoushi got to his feet, pulling his claymore from his back sheathe and tensing in readiness as Rigaldo's roar shattered the semi-stillness, the calm before the storm. The Awakened Ones turned to listen - and fled the city as the Silver-Eyed Lion King entered it. Immediately, the hanyoma began crying out, demanding to know what was going on, but Rigaldo appeared then. "Even in these hopeless circumstances, you all have found a way to survive," he said to them, resting a hand on the head of one of the deceased Awakened Ones, "but unfortunately, we cannot afford anymore losses, either." With that, he flared his youki, the incredible aura casting a red-orange glow over the warriors and the town square, spirals of lightning-like youki surrounding him, his bones crunching and muscles expanding as he reverted to his Awakened form. He finished the process and vanished, reappearing in front of Veronica. "First one!"

It was them that Ryoushi moved, blurring between the weakest captain and the former Number Two, grabbing her by her back armor and severing Rigaldo's right arm at the elbow in the process, stabbing it with his blade and carrying it away as he moved out of range. "Hello, Rigaldo. Long time, no see," he said calmly, turning to face the other Awakened One, stabbing his blade into the ground and resting his hand on the end of the handle, displaying the pierced arm, "It's been almost ninety years since I had a decent fight. I hope you last longer than the others who have challenged me." He tossed Veronica in the general direction of Noel and Sophia, and they caught the weakest of the captains, Teresa calling for everyone to take cover and suppress their youki.

"Ryoushi the Hunter..." the Lion King said quietly, "Indeed, it has been a long time, but what makes you so sure of your victory?" He lunged forward, driving Ryoushi back, but not before the sensor cut his right arm to pieces, preventing him from reattaching it.

"Oh, come now, Rigaldo," Ryoushi smirked, now on the steps of the cathedral behind the beast, "If you couldn't beat me as a hanyoma, what makes you think your odds are better now that we've both Awakened? I can read your youki even better, now." He jerked his head to one side, effortlessly evading the claws Rigaldo extended in the direction of his vital spot and severing them before the other could retract them, forcing him to waste precious energy to regenerate them. "If you couldn't defeat Isley, what makes you think you can defeat me?"

That was clearly a sore point for the other male; he gritted his fangs and blurred forward, but Ryoushi was already gone, opening up minor slashes on his legs. The stronger appeared for only an instant, face showing a calmly amused expression, before he vanished again, Rigaldo slamming down onto the place from above just as he left it, the remainder of his right arm being severed at the shoulder. Ryoushi reappeared atop one of the buildings, still without a scratch on him, gazing down at the Silver-Eyed Lion King, and he tilted his head slightly, letting out a quiet snort through his nose and blinking slowly in a manner radiating boredom. "C'mon, Rigaldo, Gin Gan no Shishio. Is this all you've got?" He vanished again as Rigaldo extended his claws in his direction before stopping twenty feet away from the beast. "Are your speed and long-range claws your only advantages over ordinary Awakened Ones?" Ryoushi darted forward, faster than the other could respond, and opened up a severe slash along his stomach, forcing the lion to stop for several seconds and heal it.

Rigaldo was panting now; it had been years since he'd faced someone faster than him, and it was forcing him to put a great strain on his body. Ryoushi noticed it all and narrowed his eyes. "This really is all you have," he said quietly, almost to himself, a kind of angry disgust and disappointment clear on his face as he twisted his head slightly, narrowing his eyes. "You bore me."

The lion barely managed to dodge the strike intended to decapitate him and leapt back out of the way, breath coming faster as fear began to set in; Isley had let him live because the former Number One could use him. Ryoushi had no need for his power.

He was going to die.

'But not without a fight,' Rigaldo promised himself as he lunged towards the other Awakened One, who wore a look of utter disappointed boredom on his face, bringing his blade up to block Rigaldo's attack and spinning out of the way unexpectedly, sending him slamming into a wall. The lion grunted as he regained his feet, healing the damage he sustained in a burst of youki.

"I guess I need to chop off those legs of yours if I'm going to take your head. Is that it, Rigaldo?" A blur of motion; other arm, gone. No method of offense, no option but defense - flight. The Silver-Eyed Lion King turned to run, only to find Ryoushi in front of him. "You never struck me as a coward, offensive-type," he growled, and this time, the decapitation strike connected, as did all of the others. The former Number Two came to a stop thirty feet behind his former comrade, hunched over slightly, sword outstretched, and Rigaldo's body collapsed into pieces as he straightened, lowering his blade. He let out a quiet sigh of relief; the battle was over, for the moment.

"Way to go, Ryoushi!" Noel shouted as she bounded over to him from her hiding place, "He didn't even stand a chance!"

"Before I Awakened, he was Number Four, and I was Number Two," Ryoushi said in an exasperated manner, "Of course he didn't stand a chance, Noel-san; the odds were against Rigaldo no matter how you look at it."

"Regardless, Ryoushi," Teresa said as she approached, Clare and Kinatia trailing slightly behind her, "that was some pretty impressive fighting, especially for as small a Number gap as you two had. But where is Isley?"

"Headng south by another route," he said, turning his head in the direction of the Silver King, "He won't be coming here, but the rest of the Awakened Ones are." Miria, Helen, Deneve, and Jean joined them and nodded to Ryoushi in thanks, and he returned the dip of the head. Upon seeing that their comrades were not at all threatened by the presence of the Awakened One, the other hanyoma emerged from their hiding places one by one even the bravest among them hesitating in their approach, but finally, they all gathered in the courtyard around the Hunter, staring at him with amazed eyes. None of them - absolutely none of them had been as close to an Awakened Being that meant them no harm as they were in that moment, and they marveled at that for the brief instants that they could. "Here they come," Ryoushi said finally, lifting his claymore and moving into an attack position as everyone else did the same, "Let's go."

"How many are left?" Flora asked as she stepped up next to him.

"Twenty-two," was the reply.

"We're not going to be able to kill them all," Undine said from where she stood with her squad flanking her.

"Oh, you never know, Undine-san," Ryoushi said, shifting his weight to lower his center of gravity, "In any case, it's out of our hands now." The hanyoma nodded in agreement and unsheathed both of her swords, the rest of the warriors doing the same as the first of the Awakened Ones thudded to the ground in front of them. Ryoushi didn't even wait; he blurred and vanished, reappearing as he leapt over the beast's shoulder, its head separating from its body a moment later. "Twenty-one."

The warriors divided into their teams and began picking off Awakened Ones one by one until there were eighteen left; that was when the first hanyoma fell. After that, they began losing two or three, sometimes four warriors for every Awakened One they killed, until finally it was just Ryoushi and Teresa, back to back, facing off against eleven of the beasts. "Just like old times, huh?" he growled to her, splitting apart a three-fingered hand that reached for him and retreating slightly to protect the hanyoma's back even as she did the same for him.

"Oh yeah," was her reply, "If we're going out, let's do it with a bang."

* * *

Six Awakened Ones survived their rampage and headed southeast, not splitting up because there were too few of them as it was. They met the organization and were slaughtered by Dark Alicia, the Number One who could cross her limits and come back with the help of her twin, Beth. Isley went straight south, taking the southern lands from Luciela, who vanished with her sister Rafaela after the fight, and though Riful went to fight Isley, weakened as he was with his battle with Luciela, she and Dauf returned to the western lands after glimpsing Priscilla with the male Creature of the Abyss, realizing the truth.

In the north, one by one, half-yoma warriors awoke from their forced unconsciousness, healing themselves and returning to the courtyard where they initially gathered upon there arrival in Pieta. Teresa, Irene, Noel, Sophia, Clare, Miria, Helen, Deneve, Flora, Jean, Uma, Cynthia, Tabitha, Kinatia, and Ryoushi survived, though there would have been more; the remaining Awakened Ones leveled the city and crushed a few more survivors in the process, the buildings collapsing on top of them and ending their lives quickly.

Unfortunately, a late-season blizzard set in shortly after they woke, forcing them to hurry in the burial of the fallen warriors, and they retreated to a cave in the mountains around Pieta to wait out the storm. Ryoushi had no problem meandering out in the snow, collecting supplies, sensing that his fate was being decided in the cave and not wanting to put forward any conscious interference, and finally Kinatia came out to get him; he could stay but only if he didn't hunt any humans, and the Awakened One agreed. The northern lands were virtually deserted anyway, almost all of the people killed off by the Awakened army Isley gathered, leaving behind plenty of gear and supplies for them to use. Over the years they stayed hidden in the north, they trained themselves to fight without releasing youki, something that the renegades already did, which helped the deserters a lot.

Finally, after seven years of nothing, some warriors appeared...

* * *

A/N: Meh, short. Happy New Year, and Roll Tide.


	9. Eight: Souls of the Fallen

Eight: Souls of the Fallen

Ryoushi breathed deep of the icy air of his home, eyes closed, body relaxed with his mediation technique; it was one that he had developed himself to help control his instinctual desire for guts, what enabled him to steadily decrease the amount of "food" he needed, but this was the longest stretch he'd ever gone without eating. It was more difficult than it had ever been to fight the urge to hunt the humans that had gone south, but the hanyoma present helped him keep control of his more vicious instincts.

He only half-listened to the conversation going on between the other warriors, bickering about what they should do with the half-yoma who came north to hunt the Awakened Ones; they would have been killed had the renegades not interfered, and in any case, the dark-haired warrior had been beginning to wake up. She was extraordinarily weak, almost as if she was only one-quarter yoma or less, a clear sign that the organization either was shorthanded or didn't consider the northern region to be very important now that Isley's army had leveled everything.

"Ryoushi, what's Clare doing? I can't see her form, but..."

"Out searching the other cities for that boy, Raki." He waved in her general direction. "Teresa and Uma went along to keep an eye on her."

...Uma was lagging behind Clare, Teresa walking easily by her side, making sure that she didn't fall too far behind the stubborn woman up ahead, and finally the former Number One called for Clare to slow down. The Quicksword user did so, and after a few more moments of walking, Uma said, "I am grateful to you all. The only reason a low-ranker like me, Number Forty, was able to survive was because of that plan. Has it truly been seven years already?" The three of them paused briefly to reminisce before moving into the town nearby; Ryoushi left them to it, instead watching as the remaining three warriors regained consciousness and then headed south after healing themselves, the dark-haired girl in tow.

When Clare returned, she brought with her her shocking intent to - "What? Go south past Pieta!"

Ryoushi automatically covered his ears as Helen's voice bounced around their cavern, inhaling deeply so as to memorize the boy Raki's scent still clinging to Clare's clothes. It sent a flash burn through his throat, bringing his hunger to the forefront, but he forced it down, instead turning his attention back to the conversation - argument, really - taking place in front of him. It was not impossible for what Clare said to be true, neither was it impossible for Raki to have survived and gone south as she said.

He followed the group of half-yoma outside to the flat plain in front of their cave and silently watched as Miria attacked Clare, the younger half-yoma responding to the squad leader's Phantom with the Windcutter, before the elder questioned her reasons for going south. "The many souls within me won't let me idle my days away here in the north," was her response, but what shocked them the most was Miria resigning as the group's leader and expressing her intent to go south with Clare. One by one, the other hanyoma stepped forward and said the same; if they were going, then the rest were coming with them. Finally, Miria turned to Ryoushi. "What about you? What are you going to do, Ryoushi?"

He sighed heavily. "Go south. Hopefully find my smithy still intact and reopen it." He scratched his temple. "Maybe chop up a few yoma... and thoroughly deserving handlers..."

A couple of the hanyoma grinned, while a few of their number chuckled. "All right, it looks like we are decided. We're going south with the souls of the fallen of Pieta."

* * *

Helen was her typical overenthusiastic self when they emerged from the Land of Northern Snows, practically bouncing with glee at the green grass and blue sky rather than the endless white. The Awakened One in the party simply rolled his eyes at her enthusiasm and did as Miria asked, stepping to the forefront of the group. "Within my range," he said, "there are sixteen warriors, five possible single digits: two straight ahead, two and my two o'clock, and one at my ten. There is a handful of yoma in close proximity to one another at my three; the single digits at my two seem to be heading that way. I only sense one living Awakened One in my range." He opened his eyes, silently staring off in the direction of the "failed" claymore. "Creature of the Abyss, Riful of the West."

"!" All of the hanyoma visibly recoiled at his words, despite the fact that he himself was an Abyssal One in all but name; he had been continuously switching places with Isley, after all. Kinatia stepped up next to him and gripped his shoulder to amplify her own abilities at detection, intending to get a reading on the youki so she could avoid it in the future. The feel of the incredibly vast youki wrapped in the aura of an ordinary Awakened One set her nerves on edge, and she distinctly moved a little closer to the seeming ten-year-old, seeking instinctive protection from the unofficial Abyssal One. Ryoushi tilted his head; he could faintly hear the sounds of Riful's passage through the forest; she was heading for the hunting party directly ahead, and he told their group as much even as he sensed her interacting with the hunters.

"One of the single digits has drawn her sword; it seems she's planning to fight," he said, detecting the flow and change in youki from passive to aggressive. Though with this one, it seemed to go from aggressive to aggressive-er.

"Assessment, Ryoushi," Miria demanded, stepping up next to him.

"They're _so_ gonna die." He sighed, knowing that Miria was going to take a troupe and run off to rescue them. "You'll be able to get away, so long as you don't use your youki."

Almost instantly, she called Teresa, Irene, and Clare to come with her and help retrieve the fools who didn't even realize the truth about Riful's yoma aura, and they tore off into the trees, aiming for the group of hunters and the creature herself. Naturally, Helen wanted to go after them, but Deneve managed to hold her back. "They only need one fighter per warrior," the former Number Fifteen said, grasping her friend's arm, "It would be a pain to round the rest of us up or heal us if we got injured."

"But Clare – "

"Is a lot more powerful than she appears; you know that."

Ryoushi closed his eyes again and focused on the battle ahead. Riful was talking; he could almost make out her words based on the flow of youki through her mouth…

"…without resistance or strength and turns their strength against them with her gentle sword. I'm honored to have met the might Number Three and Number Five. But the strong sword cannot reach me, and the gentle sword cannot cut me. You cannot defeat me."

Number Five spoke briefly; he had to really focus to "hear" the words, "…has-been. You can't understand that times have changed." Both leapt up onto Riful's body, effortlessly jumping from "crossbeam" to "crossbeam," and when the former Number One attacked with her blades, Number Three used her gentle sword to redirect the attacks away from herself and her comrade. Number Five pulled back her sword with the intent to finish the battle with a single strike that would cut an ordinary Awakened One in two. However, this was not an ordinary Awakened One; this was Riful of the West, the Creature of the Abyss and the Mistress of Blades. She should not have been treated so lightly.

Using the resistance provided by Number Three's gentle sword, Number Five prepared to split her in two, saying, "This is the power of the new generation!" At the last second, Riful moved her upper body so that the attack did not strike her "head," but it still was able to cut into her body a fair distance. "While you were sleeping in the Abyss, the world changed," she declared, and though Riful warned her against attacking again, the hothead did so anyway. The watching Awakened One was reminded of the former Number Eleven, Undine; both were very impulsive, though with the late Claymore it was just a front to hide the fact that she was afraid.

When Number Five tried to attack again with her "resistance buildup" technique, Riful simply dropped her upper body below the plane of the strike, pointing out that her skill had too many flaws; at most it could effectively be used only once to surprise the enemy. She asked if they had any other skills that could be used in an attempt to kill her, but there were none to be had. Number Five struck at her repeatedly while Three went around back and tried to pierce Riful's open wound, but to no avail. Five attempted to do a lateral split, but Riful unintentionally deceived them by separating her body into its tentacle-like components. It was then that Audrey, Number Three, sensed Riful's real youki concealed beneath the false aura and began to shake in fear. Riful commented that Galatea, Jean, and Clare had picked up on her deception so much faster, but two of them _had_ (seemingly) specialized in the detection of youki, so she supposed that it was simply a matter of different warrior types.

Rachel, Number Five, demanded that Audrey tell her what was wrong, and Audrey whispered, "We can't… the youki we felt… it's not the real thing… We can't defeat her…"

"Don't be scared of this bitch! You're Number Three!" Rachel snapped in reply, and in retaliation for the "bitch" comment, Riful pierced her from below with her blades.

"You do realize that I could have done that at any time, right? You _are_ standing on my body." For Audrey, she was much gentler, wrapping her up with her tentacles and gently stoking her face, earning a gasp from the hanyoma. "There's no need to be scared; I hid my youki so you wouldn't feel threatened – Oh, ick. Please don't do that on my body. You deserve credit for facing despite knowing who I am, but I was hoping you'd see through me. How disappointing. Oh well. I'll take whatever help I can get from you two. All I have to do is make you Awaken, and since she's passed out," referring to Rachel, who was indeed unconscious, "I guess I'll start with you."

Even without his ability to sense youki flow down to the smallest twitches, Ryoushi could hear Audrey's screams from the cliff top almost a mile away as Riful began to torture her into Awakening. At the same time, Clare and Teresa reached the weaker hanyoma hiding in the woods and swiftly knocked them out, forcing them to swallow youki suppressants once they were down for the count. Miria, who was their fastest, strongest jumper, alighted on Riful's body and laid a hand on one of the tentacles holding Rachel up to gain the Abyssal One's attention. In a single swift leap, she was carrying the hanyoma off, leaving Riful to shout, "You can't just steal my prey like that!"

While she was temporarily distracted, Irene used the windcutter to shatter the strips of flesh holding Audrey prisoner, bearing her off of the Awakened One's huge body. The loyal hanyoma tried to push away from the other claymore, but Teresa slammed her foot into her gut as she arrived, Irene shoving the suppressant down her throat moments later. The former Number One sensed the attack from Riful but chose to let Clare handle it to give her more practice with using the Windcutter without youki. She successfully redirected all of the tentacles the Creature of the Abyss sent their way, and Irene rose, carrying her hanyoma. Riful immediately demanded to know who they were, but Miria ordered them to scatter.

Teresa, Irene, and Miria instantly tore off in different directions, vanishing into the trees, and Riful launched attacks along the routes she thought they would take away from her location. She didn't want to ruin the whole territory and said as much, but she hated that their skittering about like little bugs might force her hand. That was when Clare stepped in, of course, and replied to Riful's unasked question. "There's something I want to ask of you, Riful of the West."

"Ah!" the Awakened One said, remembering, "You were one of the three that fought Dauf seven years ago. How nostalgic. And how are the others? Especially the one with the long hair."

"I don't need to give you an answer," Clare said, shifting the weight of the unconscious hanyoma on her shoulder.

"Oh, come now. Is that any way to ask a favor?"

The half-Awakened woman hesitated for a moment, then spoke again. "One of them is with me. I haven't seen the long hair one since that day."

"What a shame. So, what did you want to ask me?" She lightly grasped the wrist of one hand with the other hand and assumed a stance that said, "Ask your question. I might answer."

"A large number of the Awakened Ones from the north came here seven years ago. Based on the fact that you are still here, I assume I am correct in saying that you won. But what about the organization? How did it fare, and what is it like now?" All of those who were capable of doing so were listening anxiously for the answer from the Abyssal One.

"I see. Your youki's vanished state, your knowledge of Isley's army – more than what I told you… the organization must have sent you north to fight them, but after you failed, you remained hidden in the north. She turned her head slightly, a soft grin lighting her unnatural features. "Well, I won't ask more questions that necessary; it's old news, after all. I'll give you an update, but I do have a condition."

"Oh?"

"I want you to join me," Riful said, speaking as if she was merely stating that the sky was blue rather than declaring that she wanted Clare to throw away her humanity for a life of presumably eternal servitude, "Though I'd prefer the long-haired girl from before, you're proficient enough at reading youki that I'll take you in her place. I have need of your skills. And as I said years ago, it's the quickest way to your revenge."

'Not if she kills her first,' Ryoushi thought, feeling a ripple of disgust run through Clare.

"All right," Clare said, "I'll take it into serious consideration."

"Smart girl," Riful smiled, "I guess I can tell you what happened, then. Only six Awakened Ones came out of the north seven years ago and headed directly east. Isley went straight south and took that land from Luciela, who disappeared shortly thereafter. All of his 'army' died when they encountered the organization."

"And how," Clare said, managing to maintain her façade of calm, "did the organization defeat six Awakened Ones?"

"They created a new Abyssal One, in a sense, so it's still a three-way deadlock."

"If Isley went to fight and kill this 'Luciela,' why didn't you take the opportunity to go and kill him with your own two hands?"

"Once again, you display your intelligence. Of course I went; I knew I wouldn't have an opportunity like that ever again, and Isley was half-dead as it was. Luciela put up quite the fight, but just as with his underlings, he disregarded her, and she fell. After that, I was able to get close enough to stand before him. But that was when I saw… that _thing_…"

_The ground had been torn to shreds by the fight between the great northern and southern Abyssal Ones, and dust was still being picked up by the wind and thrown into the air, making it taste like dirt and dryness. Boulders lay strewn about like some mythical giant had come off the mountains to either side of the valley and decided the immense stones would make good toys, hurling them about randomly. Isley, the Silver King of Alphons and now of Musha, was sitting on a small plot of undisturbed earth, a woman at his side. She had jagged brown hair and brown eyes and was resting a hand on his left shoulder, gaze on the newcomer Awakened Ones._

_Riful was shocked. "Isley…"_

_He smirked as he panted for breath. "You're too late," he gasped, "The moment Luciela was toppled was the moment all of my ideas became real. No matter what any of you do, no one can kill Priscilla now."_

_The Creature of the West gritted her teeth and whirled to leave, knowing that Isley would not attack her; he had no reason to, not anymore. "Let's go, Dauf," she snapped._

"_But Riful, you…" Dauf looked at her retreating back with concern._

_The girl's nose wrinkled. "I can't hardly believe it," she whispered, "That woman is far more powerful than us!"_

Clare Teresa, Irene, Noel, Sophia, and Ryoushi remained impassive; they knew exactly who it was that Riful was talking about and were not in the least bit surprised. The others listening in, however, were shocked; there was something out there stronger than an Abyssal One, the strongest of all the Awakened Ones? How was that possible? Clare spoke. "So what you told me before, that Isley had subdued Priscilla; it was a falsehood that he spread?"

"So it would seem," Riful nodded, "It appears to me that the moment he realized he could not beat her, he chose to swear loyalty to her and became her general, but as you said, he lied to the world. The only way for her to be defeated was for Luciela and I to ally with one another, but Isley took the initiative and killed her. I can't very well join the organization against them, and the fool actually seems to have fallen in love with that thing. They could conquer the world if they chose, but they've stayed quiet ever since. The potential is there, and that's why I've been scouting out troops ever since, you see?"

"Somewhat," Clare said, cocking her head, "There is one thing I do not understand: my powers would be woefully inadequate in the face of this beast, especially compared to yours. Why do you want me?"

"I want someone who excels at reading yoma energy, not that I want you to fight. After I left Isley, I found something interesting. If I can get it to wake up, I can use it to tip the balance in my favor or at least hold them off indefinitely. But I can't use it yet, so that's where you come in. A warrior that can sense yoma energy has the potential to manipulate it as well." She smiled. "That's why I'm so happy you'll be joining me."

"I said that I'd give it some thought," Clare said, "and I have. I'm afraid I'll have to decline. If this thing turns on you or becomes more powerful than you, I'd rather not be anywhere near it."

And then using a reasonable facsimile of Miria's "Phantom," she vanished into the forest, the rest of her comrades also scattering to the four winds. Ryoushi could feel that they would return safely and so opened his eyes and slackened his focus. Kinatia squeezed his shoulder, having been privy to the distant interactions of the warriors and beast via his youki. He had strange properties; now that his youki was gone from the world, including the fact that when hanyoma touched him, they were able to detect youki well outside of their own ranges; there was some strange way that he amplified the youki when it flowed around him. The warriors returned a few minutes later, and Teresa and Irene dropped all of the other hanyoma's swords on the ground near their unconscious owners.

The Awakened One sensed that the Number Three was beginning to stir and yanked up his hood to hide his face, to prevent her from realizing what he was. She groaned as she came back around, reaching up to touch her forehead as she sat up, saying, "Damn… you fed me a youki suppressant, didn't you?" Audrey winced at another throb of pain from the wounds Riful inflicted. "Who… the hell are you?"

"Feel free to guess," Miria said as Kinatia dropped her hand from his shoulder, him reaching up to grasp it, "but we won't tell you anything. We would, however, like to know the names of Numbers One through Five and how the organization is doing."

"You honestly think I'll answer when you ask like that?" Audrey's eyes roamed their group, apparently memorizing faces, until she reached Ryoushi. He read her expressions and youki like they were her thoughts; she was confused, as hanyoma were sterile, but here Kinatia was, holding his hand like she was his mother. She assumed her was human, a child taken in by their group, and so glossed over him, though he was the most dangerous of them all.

"We saved you and your team from the Creature of the Abyss. I didn't think a warrior skilled enough to become Number Three could ignore a debt like that." When Audrey dropped her gaze, Miria said, "I'll rephrase the question, then. Is Alicia complete?"

Audrey was visibly startled and seemed about to ask how they knew – and then cursed herself for giving the answer away.

"I see. Your expression was enough. Let's go, everyone." The Phantom turned to leave, and Ryoushi nudged Clare, making a brief gesture which she understood.

"Number Three, Galatea – is she still alive?" Kinatia was instantly on-edge, hoping for word of her teacher –

"Is this answer enough? I am Number Three."

Clare nodded and turned away, and Ryoushi squeezed Kinatia's hand when he sensed her crippling despair.

"She may still be alive," Audrey said suddenly, making them pause and turn back to listen, "In the chaos seven years ago, she deserted from the organization, though they said she died fighting an Awakened One. Even now, no one is capable of getting close enough to her to execute her, and her youki should have all but vanished. Just like yours." The deserters remained silent, so Audrey continued, "This may seem insufficient, but I consider us even, now."

"You have our thanks; this is plenty."

As they sprinted away from the other claymore, Ryoushi voiced what they were all thinking. "So where should we go from here?"

"Musha?" Uma suggested.

"Isley's there."

"Right."

"And we're already in the West, the organization's in the East, so it's to Rabona we go," Ryoushi grunted, already adjusting his course, "Besides, if I were a claymore on the run, that's where I'd go; the organization can't enter the city except by stealth. Galatea might be there, and we could use to have her as our ally."

"Rabona it is, then."


End file.
